Gen 2 HUGE ALLIGATOR (UU Feraligatr) [QC 0/2 GP 0/2]

[OVERVIEW]
  • Feraligatr is a threatening mixed sweeper with the excellent combination of QuakeSlide coverage and STAB Hydro Pump, as well as a great Speed stat that outpaces many tier staples, including Nidoqueen
  • Feraligatr is able to 2HKO much of the tier after a Curse boost
  • Feraligatr's pure Water typing and good bulk allows it to switch into many attacks, so it can find its way onto the field fairly easily
  • Feraligatr needs a Curse boost to truly scare many UU Pokemon, which forces Feraligatr to slow itself down and allows many Pokemon that Feraligatr would normally outspeed to hit it first
  • Feraligatr's Electric weakness is exploitable by many Pokemon in the tier with Electric STAB or coverage
  • Feraligatr does not run RestTalk, making it easy to cripple with status
  • Feraligatr faces competition from physical sweepers such as Granbull
[SET]
name: Mixed Sweeper
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Curse
move 4: Hydro Pump
item: Leftovers

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
  • Earthquake and Rock Slide provide the famous QuakeSlide coverage, hitting every Pokemon in the tier for at least neutral damage.
  • Curse allows Feraligatr to threaten 2HKOs on much of the tier with Earthquake and Rock Slide, complemented by Hydro Pump. Feraligatr also becomes quite physically bulky after a Curse boost. For example, Granbull's +1 Attack Return has a low chance to 3HKO a +1 Defense Feraligatr, and a +2 Attack Scyther's Wing Attack only has a chances to 5HKO.
  • Hydro Pump allows Feraligatr to hit Pokemon that only take neutral damage from the Earthquake + Rock Slide combination much harder, like Gligar, Piloswine, and Quagsire. Hydro Pump also hits Pokemon with poor special bulk, like Granbull, and Pokemon weak to Water, like Nidoqueen, harder than the Earthquake + Rock Slide combination.
  • Feraligatr can be brought in on resisted attacks like Piloswine's Ice Beam and Omastar's Surf. Depending on which Pokemon are not KO'd on the opposing team, Feraligatr can then opt to Curse to boost its Attack, or preserve its Speed and use its excellent attacking coverage to break through the opposing team.
  • Feraligatr can also be brought in with Light Screen support from Hypno, which will allow it to survive several special attacks (even super effective ones like Lanturn's Thunder, which only has a chance to 3HKO with Light Screen active). Feraligatr is then immediately threatening to almost every special attacker in the tier due to their poor physical bulk, forcing them to switch out, Rest, or sacrifice their special attacker. Feraligatr can use the decreased damage from special attacks thanks to Light Screen to set up a Curse and become much more dangerous. Hypno is a notable exception here, as Hypno's great mixed bulk and common usage of Thunder Wave makes it a risk for Feraligatr to try to set up on. Slowbro and Slowking also require multiple Curse boosts for Feraligatr to break through and can threaten Feraligatr with STAB Psychic after Light Screen wears off, so Feraligatr should only attempt to beat them if they have already taken significant damage.
  • Feraligatr has good mixed bulk and can generally take any one hit if needed, and so can be brought in aggressively on attacks to wallbreak early for its team or to clean late-game if needed. This works especially well if Feraligatr has other offensive teammates like Scyther that can finish off any Pokemon Ferligatr may not have been able to wear down completely on its own.
Team Options
========
  • Scyther is able to Baton Pass Swords Dance boosts to Feraligatr, allowing it to boost its Attack without the Speed drop of Curse. Scyther also pressures the bulky Grass-types and Psychic-types that Feraligatr has trouble breaking through, like Bellossom, Hypno, Slowbro, and Slowking. In return, Feraligatr can pressure Rock- and Steel-types that Scyther can have trouble breaking through (especially if it isn't running Hidden Power Ground) like Omastar, Kabutops, Magneton, and Graveler. Scyther also appreciates Feraligatr's good physical bulk and resistances to Ice and Fire, which allows Feraligatr to pivot into Pokemon like Piloswine and Nidoqueen to take the pressure off Scyther.
  • Feraligatr appreciates Pokemon that can pivot into Electric-types to check them, such as Nidoqueen, Piloswine, Lanturn, Bellossom, and Victreebel. These can all allow Feraligatr to Curse boost more freely without worrying about being slower than opposing Lanturn and Magneton, and can take on faster Electric-types like Electabuzz and Pikachu as well, although they must beware Pikachu's Surf, Electzbuzz's Ice Punch, and Hidden Power Ice from Pikachu, Magneton, and Ampharos.
  • Checks to the tier's Grass-types in Bellossom, Jumpluff, Victreebel and Vileplume are also appreciated, since Feraligatr requires multiple Curse boosts to break through all but Jumpluff. Poison-types like Qwilfish and Victreebel are excellent in this role, threatening Grass-types with STAB Sludge Bomb. Pinsir can also fulfill this role, especially if it carries Hidden Power Bug, but is severely crippled by status from the Grass-types.
  • Blastoise can be used on bulky offense teams with Feraligatr. Feraligatr appreciates Blastoise removing Qwilfish's Spikes and taking some of the burden of switching into opposing Earthquakes away. If using Roar, Blastoise can also check boosting physical attackers like Granbull and Scyther, removing pressure from Feraligatr to be in pristine health to take them on. Feraligatr also appreicates Blastoise acting as a secondary Piloswine switch-in so that it does not need to risk being frozen by Ice Beam.
  • Hypno makes an excellent Feraligatr partner for many reasons: it can set Light Screen up to allow Feraligatr to pivot into special attacks more easily; it can use Thunder Wave to paralyze faster offensive threats, allowing Feraligatr to outspeed them; it is able to force other Psychic types to Rest by crippling them with Thunder Wave or simply chipping them with Psychic; it can safely scout for an abdorb status moves with RestTalk; and it can take some pressure to switch into Nidoqueen off Feraligatr, allowing Feraligatr to stay healthy for a late-game sweep.
  • Swords Dance users like Scyther, Victreebel, and Pinsir complement Feraligatr's offensive pressure and make it harder to handle a Feraligatr. Feraligatr alternatively can be used as the wallbreaker, with the Swords Dance user(s) cleaning late game.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Hidden Power Bug could be used to hit Bellossom and Psychic-types harder, notably allowing Feraligatr to break through Slowbro and Slowking, but dropping any one of Feraligatr's attacks significantly worsens its coverage options. Dropping Curse instead will cause Feraligatr to be unable to break through targets it otherwise could, so running Hidden Power Bug is generally not worth it.
  • Ancient Power could be used instead of Rock Slide for the better accuracy and chance for an omniboost at the cost of PP and a slight drop in base power.
  • Miracle Berry could be used to allow Feraligatr to shrug off status attempts like Stun Spore from Jumpluff and Thunder Wave from Hypno once, but Feraligatr's bulk is important in allowing it to wallbreak/clean, and giving up Leftovers significantly decreases its survivability, especially against bulkier teams.
Checks and Counters
===================

**Grass-types**: Grass-types like Bellossom, Victreebel, and Vileplume are difficult for Feraligatr to break through due to its lack of super effective moves against them. Bellossom in particular has excellent bulk, manual recovery in Moonlight, Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, and commonly runs Grass STAB attacks (either Razor Leaf or Hidden Power Grass), allowing it to counter Feraligatr easily. Jumpluff does not like taking Feraligatr's Rock Slide, but outspeeds Feraligatr, has manual recovery in Synthesis, and can cripple Feraligatr with Stun Spore or Sleep Powder or force it to lock into a move with Encore.

**Electric-types**: All of UU's Electric-types threaten Feraligatr with 2HKOs from their Electric-type STAB attacks. However, they can all be 2HKO'd (or in Pikachu's case, OHKO'd) by unboosted Earthquake in return. It should be noted that an unboosted Earthquake has a very low chance to 2HKO Lanturn and Ampharos without Spikes, so these two may be able to switch into Feraligatr and 1v1 it if needed.

**Electric-type coverage**: Several Pokemon in UU run Electric-type coverage, allowing them to threaten Feraligatr with a super effective hit and potentially paralyze it if using Thunder or Zap Cannon. These include Gyarados, Haunter, Mr. Mime, and Nidoqueen, as well as more rarely on Granbull, Omastar, Politoed, and Slowking.

**Bulky Water-types**: Feraligatr requires multiple Curse boosts to break through bulky Water-types like Blastoise, Politoed, Quagsire, Slowbro, and Slowking. Blastoise can pepper Feraligatr with Surfs or Roar it out, though as a last Pokemon it isn't a good Feraligatr check. Politoed can take several of Feraligatr's attacks and potentially use it as a Belly Drum opportunity, although it can be 2HKO'd by Feraligatr's Earthquake after Belly Drumming. Politoed can potentially also boost with Growth in front of Feraligatr. Quagsire can also Belly Drum in front of Feraligatr, but can be 2HKO'd by Hydro Pump + Earthquake. Slowbro and Slowking easily take Feraligatr's attacks, even after a Curse boost, and can pressure it with STAB Psychic attacks.

**Normal-types**: Granbulls' physical bulk, access to Curse, and use of RestTalk allow it to act as a solid Feraligatr check, since it is able to recover damage from Feraligatr and/or Curse boost while sleeping, whereas Feraligatr is chipped away by repeated Returns and has no recovery move to offset the damage. Dodrio fears Rock Slide but outspeeds Feraligatr and can heavily damage it with Double-Edge. Wigglytuff cannot take on Feraligatr unboosted, but after a few Curse boosts, it can check Feraligatr in the same way as Granbull.

**Crobat**: Crobat does not appreciate Rock Slide, but can Haze away any Curse boosts Feraligatr may have accrued, and can afflict Feraligatr status from Confuse Ray or Toxic. Crobat can also potentially cripple Feraligatr's longevity by stealing its Leftovers with Thief.

**Psychic-types**: Hypno is only threatened by Feraligatr after it boosts with Curse, and can cripple it with Thunder Wave and/or repeatadly pummel it with STAB Psychics to allow a revenge killer to finish Feraligatr off. Mr. Mime and Kadabra do not take Feraligatr's physical attacks well, but can threaten with stronger STAB Psychics than Hypno, and Mr. Mime can even threaten super effective damage and/or paralysis with Thunder. Slowbro and Slowking are only threatened by Feraligatr after multiple Curse boosts, and can significantly chip it in return with theri STAB Psychics.

**Haunter**: Haunter is not a safe switch-in to Feraligatr at all, being OHKO'd by unboosted Earthquake + Spikes damage, but it will not be OHKO'd by an unboosted Earthquake alone and can threaten Feraligatr with a 2HKO from Thunderbolt or Thunder. Haunter also outspeeds Feraligatr and can put it to sleep with Hypnosis or trade with it using Destiny Bond or Explosion.

**Qwilfish**: Qwilfish cannot switch into Feraligatr safely, being 2HKO'd by unboosted Earthquake. However, it outspeeds Feraligatr, can Haze away any Curse boosts Feraligatr may have gained, and threatens to poison Feraligatr with its STAB Sludge Bomb, significantly reducing Feraligatr's longevity.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Celebiii, 476515]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top