Salazzle

[Slip]

Base Stats: 68 HP / 64 Atk / 60 Def / 111 SpA / 60 SpD / 117 Spe
Ability: Corrosion (This Pokemon can poison or badly poison a pokemon regardless of its typing)
Notable Moves: Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Substitute, Flamethrower, Sludge Bomb, Nasty Plot, Encore, Disable, Knock Off, Dragon Pulse

Pros / Good Qualities:

• Salazzle has a high speed stat that allows it to outspeed most non-scarfed threats in the metagame which allows it to come in and pick up easy revenge kills or sweep late game.
• Corrosion allows this pokemon a lot of utility that is even more valuable with most Pokemon losing access to toxic. Since you can poison even steel types or other poisons, it can make openings for your team that would not normally be there.
• Salazzle was one of the few pokemon to keep knock off this generation which can help teams that like to stack hazards. These kind of teams generally help salazzle make its greatest offensive impact, meaning adding knock off on a set can let salazzle get the extra help it needs later by itself.
• Poison/Fire has really good coverage for the current meta outside of quagsire and gastrodon which can make for easy sweeps in the right match ups.

Cons / Shortcomings:

• Salazzle is incredibly frail. Any pokemon with priority will give salazzle a rough time as tera normal lucario barely misses an OHKO at full health to any banded aqua jet user having a >50% chance to OHKO from full. Any chip on this pokemon with priority users still in play will become detrimental for it's success.
• Quagsire and Gastrodon are at the peak of their popularity, meaning that Salazzle needs a lot of help to sweep or is forced to run tera blast grass in order to break through them.
• Loss of access to sludge wave hinders salazzle's KO ranges pretty hard as sludge bomb just doesn't hit as hard which makes a lot more guaranteed rolls a lot more risky to go for.

Sets:
ONE STOP SHOP POKEPASTE

Devious Schemes

Nasty Plot (Salazzle) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off / Substitute / Filler

Once Salazzle gets off a nasty plot, there is not a lot that naturally beat this Pokemon or outspeed it. With an extremely flexible 4th slot, opponents can never gaurantee what this set will do either. Knock off can help with hazard stacking teams, substitute or encore can help set up easier, and toxic or even toxic spikes can help the rest of your team make progress to set up sweeps for Salazzle later in the game. Max Speed and Sp. Atk. are ran to get the most out of Salazzle's attacks and ability to revenge kill offensive threats. One could also run tera blast grass in the last move slot to get past things like Gastrodon and Quagsire as well as preventing aqua jet users to revenge kill it.

Toxic Swamps

Hazard Setter (Salazzle) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Toxic Spikes / Sludge Bomb / Protect
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb / Knock Off / Protect

Salazzle is able to force a lot of status conditions for a team due to its ability Corrosion. Along with the recent addition of Toxic Spikes to the arsenal, Salazzle has multiple options to toxic foes with longevity. Paired with rapid spin blockers and due to the lack of defog users, toxic spikes become extremely hard to get rid of and can make a lot of Pokemon think twice before switching in to take a hit. This is definitely a more supportive role for the Pokemon, so one has to be careful about taking hits and finding good opportunities to toxic or set up hazards against opposing teams. I also think some secret tech that could be used for this is venoshock as base 65 attacking move isn't too horrible, but the base stat for the move doubles once Salazzle poisons an enemy. This should be very easy to accomplish with this set and is something I want to look further into down the line.

Stallazzle

Stallazzle (Salazzle) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Protect / Disable / Taunt

Some of you might have been asking yourselves "Slip why bring up Disable as a notable move?" This set is exactly why. With toxic being more and more rare, Salazzle can be quite a vital part of stall as another status spreader and is quite better at it than it used to be in SS. With recovery moves getting heavily nerfed, Salazzle has a lot easier time stalling out turns to make big dents in teams. Protect in order to waste turns is the most simple and safest option for the set and the most common that was used in the past generation. Disable is a great alternative, as a lot of defensive Pokemon that want to deal with Salazzle only have one good offensive move to stop Salazzle from causing shenanigans. Disabling their attack or their healing makes Salazzle a lot harder to deal with while also allowing it to get way more mileage in certain match ups. Taunt can also be used in this case for a more reliant way to deal with healing or chilly reception from Slowking, but is generally outclassed by the former two options.

Sample Team:
(click me!)

This is a sample team I am still currently testing so please be patient with this explanation lol. Altaria, Tinkaton, Quagsire, and Brambleghast are quite difficult for most teams to deal with, as their bulk and utility can shut down a lot of options while also giving multiple answers to big physical threats. Weavile has been overshadowed a bit due to its nerf of triple axel and knock off, but banded with tera Ice does an insane amount of damage to anything in its path and also allows low kick to be ran to help deal with Steel-Types like Bisharp or bulky Rock-Types like Iron Thorns. Salazzle's set I am still tinkering with. On one hand there is a lot of versatility here for Brambleghast as Quagsire can run spikes, which allows Grass-Type coverage for Salazzle in order to not have to run tera blast over a support move. Toxic spikes and toxic have felt really good to me, but knock off is also extremely helpful to Tinkaton's own knock offs which makes a lot more Pokemon take a lot more passive hazard damage. I haven't tested substitute as I don't have something to heal Salazzle with wish incase I need to sub again, but that support may not even be needed. Overall it is personal preference, but this team set up gives a lot of options to play the team in many different ways. I would put this team under the balance category, so be prepared for a moderately long game against other bulkier teams.

 

[NGW]

Have always been a huge Salazzle fan, clearly. Have a pretty standard set with her, Dragon Pulse in the flex slot right now but could change it up.

Have a team right now, Orthworm Shed Tail into one of my sweepers to give a free turn to setup has felt like a solid play and helps with Salazzle's frailty not needing a vulnerable turn to Nasty Plot. I also have her Sashed, mostly because that was always how I ran her, gives her an extra hit after the sub breaks to either setup or just hold on.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Salazzle even though very vulnerable to priority and choice scarfers is still a pretty dangerous sweeper. For it to really be on another level you need Tera Grass to flip the script on things like Gastrodon and HIppowdon. Another way it can break through most walls is if you pair with Toxic Spikes, that helps a lot. Tyrannitar dropping into the tier puts a bit of a hamper on it, but still a solid pick.