[OVERVIEW]
Walrein distinguishes itself as a Water-type by its balance of bulk and offensive presence that allows it to serve as a check to threats such as Scyther, Gligar, Omastar, Arcanine, and Nidoqueen. It's secondary Ice-typing makes it gives it an offensive edge over other Water-types such as Blastoise as it offers Walrein a secondary STAB that threatens Vileplume and Cradily while scoring notable KOs on important targets such as Scyther. Moreover, unlike its main competitor Lapras, Walrein retains a key resistance to Fire- thanks to its ability Thick Fat, making it more reliable against Arcanine.
In spite of these attributes, Walrein faces stiff competition from other Water-types that offer appealing utility in the form of Rapid Spin or Heal Bell such as Tentacruel, Blastoise, and most importantly, Lapras, which on top of not being as susceptible to Toxic also tends to be more immediately threatening thanks to its access to Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt. Moreover, while Walrein is not a slouch offensively, it fails to effectively threaten some of the bulkiest Pokemon around, such as Kangaskhan and once again Lapras.
[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Earthquake / Surf
move 3: Surf / Hidden Power Grass
move 4: Toxic / Encore
item: Leftovers
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
Thanks to its bulk, coverage, and STABs, Walrein is a very resilient Pokemon in a lot of one-on-one matchups. Ice Beam is Walrein's main STAB option, allowing it to threaten Flying-, Grass-, and Ground-types such as Scyther, Gligar, Cradily, Vileplume, and Nidoqueen. Earthquake allows Walrein to effectively threaten Lanturn as well as Poison-types such as Tentacruel and Qwilfish, all of which could take advantage of Walrein otherwise. Surf is recommended for its ability to threaten Arcanine with a potential OHKO, making Walrein a more reliable answer to that threat. Surf also covers Rock-types such as Solrock, Lunatone, and Aggron while hitting Glalie fairly hard, preventing it from getting Spikes too easily on Walrein. Surf also has the added benfit of offering a strong STAB that can be used to save Ice Beam PPs in long battles. Hidden Power Grass is another method to damage Water-types, most notably threatening Omastar with a potential OHKO to prevent it from getting Spikes on the field. Hidden Power Electric is also an option if Walrein doesn't pack Earthquake, as unlike Hidden Power Grass it retains a super effective hit on Tentacruel and Qwilfish. Toxic is recommended to pressure Pokemon that Walrein cannot effectively break through such as Kangaskhan, Hypno, and other Water-types such as Lapras, Blastoise, Feraligatr, and opposing Walrein. Finally, Encore is an option to allow Walrein to check some setup sweepers such as Curse Lapras or Calm Mind Slowking. It can also be used to lock some of Walrein's usual answers such as Kangaskhan and Lapras into undesirable moves, thus creating opportunities for Walrein's teammates.
The given EV spread ensures that Walrein can two Hidden Power Grass from Arcanine or two Double-Edges from Choice Band Scyther after one layer of Spikes. The rest is spent into Special Attack to hit as hard as possible, enough to ensure a OHKO on Scyther and Solrock with Ice Beam and Surf, respectively. More EVs in Special Attack can be considered to hit other notable benchmarks: 212 EVs guarantees that Surf will OHKO Arcanine without any defensive investment and is more than enough to OHKO standard defensive Omastar with Hidden Power Grass. 44 EVs can be spent in Speed to outrun uninvested Solrock.
Team Options
========
While Walrein does a decent job at handling Scyther, it struggles to come repeateadly on Choice Band variants and therefore appreciates backups to play around its usual attacks. In this regard, Omastar and Arcanine are good teammates, the former brings Spikes while the latter offersa priority to deal with Reversal variants of Scyther. Walrein is commonly forced out by Electric-types such as Ampharos and Lanturn. Therefore, specially bulky Pokemon or Electric resistances suited to deal with these threats such as Kangaskhan, Vileplume, and Cradily are welcome additions to teams featuring Walrein. Walrein is also quite susceptible to residual damage in the forms of Spikes and Toxic. As a result, Rapid Spin users like Tentacruel and Hitmontop as well as clerics such as Ampharos, Vileplume, and Altaria are partners of choice. Finally, Walrein struggles against Pokemon that can take its hits comfortably while circumventing Toxic, which notably includes Rest users such as Kangaskhan and Slowking as well as Lapras. Thus, it is a good idea to pack offensive threats that can take advantage of most of these Pokemon once they are asleep or using Heal Bell. Focus Punch Kangaskhan, Swords Dance Scyther, Electabuzz, and Focus Punch Ampharos are good candidates to accomplish this task.
[SET]
name: Curse
move 1: Curse
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Rest
item: Leftovers
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
With this set, Walrein can turn into a potent win condition that can defeat some of its usual checks. Although it heavily competes with Lapras due to the latter's greater special bulk and access to Shell Armor, Curse Walrein retains some merits to warrant consideration, most notably Earthquake which makes Walrein much more immediately threatening to Electric-types that would be used to force Walrein out. Ice Beam may seem like an odd choice for a physically oriented sweeper, but it complements Earthquake nicely by hitting Flying-types such as Scyther, Gligar, Altaria, and Xatu without any prior boost. It also dents Vileplume which otherwise is extremely problematic to this variant of Walrein due to Leech Seed and Hidden Power Grass. Rest is mandatory to keep Walrein healthy and cure it from status afflictions.
The EV spread and Sassy nature aim to make Walrein as specially bulky as possible to make it harder to break through on both sides after Curse boosts. Walrein usually wants at least 236 EVs in Special Defense to ensure that Modest Lapras' Thunderbolt will never 3HKO without factoring critical hits.
Team Options
========
One of the most direct ways to prevent Curse Walrein from sweeping is to force it to use Rest before picking it with Electric attacks from the likes of Ampharos and Lanturn. Thus, specially bulky Pokemon suited to handle Electric-types such as Kangaskhan, Vileplume, and Cradily make for solid teammates. Strong wallbreakers such as Choice Band Solrock and Hitmonlee are also able to threaten Walrein with a 2HKO even after a Curse boost, which makes physically defensive backups such as Nidoqueen, Gligar, and Vileplume good backbones. Other setup sweepers such as Lunatone and Swords Dance Feraligatr may be tempted to setup alongside Walrein and break through it. Therefore, it is a good idea to pack checks to these problematic Pokemon such as Roar Blastoise. There may be scenarios where Walrein is forced out after using Rest. Therefore, clerics such as Ampharos, Vileplume, and Altaria make for useful backups to spare Walrein from having to burn sleep turns by itself. Finally, Rapid Spin users such as Tentacruel, Blastoise, and Hitmontop can clear the field of Spikes, easing up Walrein's attempts to setup in front of Pokemon such as Tentacruel, Scyther, and Gligar.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Roar is an alternative to Encore to phaze setup Pokemon and scout the opposing team while possibly racking Spikes damage. Protect is another option that lets Walrein get its health back from Leftovers safely, is quite effective alongside Toxic, and let Walrein scout Explosion and what moves Choice Band users such as SOlrock lock themselves onto. Walrein can also choose to foregoe offensive investment and spend all of its EVs into bulk to be even more safe against the likes of Gligar, although it will miss some important guaranteed KOs against the Pokemon it is supposed to keep in check such as Arcanine and Scyther on top of being easier to switch into. Curse Walrein can consider Hidden Power Ghost to hit Misdreavus, Solrock, and Lunatone super effectively, but Ice Beam provides more important coverage overall. Substitute can be used alongside Encore as Walrein can get some free turn by locking the opposing Pokemon into a move ineffective against Substitute such as Toxic or, on the contrary, get a free Substitute after locking an opposing Pokemon onto an undesirable move with Encore. REst can also be considered on non Curse set to provide Walrein some longevity.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Kangaskhan**: Walrein usually fails to outdamage Kangaskhan's Rest loop and can get poisoned or slowly worn down as a result. The only thing Kangaskhan has to worry about from standard Walrein is the rare Encore which can lock it into an inconvenient move. On the other hand, Curse Walrein has a better shot at eventually breaking through Kangaskhan.
**Electric-types**: By virtue of its typing, Lanturn can switch into Walrein without much trouble and threaten it with Thunderbolt, but it has to watch out for Toxic, Earthquake, and Hidden Power Grass. Ampharos has enough special bulk to withstand several Ice Beam, does a large amount of damage with Thunderbolt, and can bypass Toxic with Heal Bell, but it has to respect repeated hits from Walrein's STABs. Other Electric-types such as Electabuzz, Manectric, Electrode, and Raichu also threaten Walrein, but have more trouble switching into its attacks.
**Residual damage**: Toxic outweighs Leftovers recovery and heavily hamper Walrein durability as a result, especially if it lacks Rest. Spikes are also very troublesome as they limit Walrein's ability to switch into the threats it's supposed to keep in check such as Scyther, Gligar, and Arcanine.
**Water-types**: Without Hidden Power, Lapras fears virtually nothing from Walrein as it can shrug off Toxic with Heal Bell and threaten it with Thunderbolt, although it fails to 3HKO Curse Walrein. The same applies to opposing Walrein if Walrein lacks Toxic or Hidden Power Grass. Curse Lapras, Curse Walrein, and Calm Mind Slowking can also use Walrein lacking Encore or Roar as a setup fodder. If Walrein lacks Earthquake or Hidden Power Electric, then it is powerless against Tentacruel and Spikes fodder for Qwilfish. Feraligatr is more susceptible to Toxic and Hidden Power, but can otherwise set up with Swords Dance on Walrein and threaten it with a boosted Rock Slide. Phazers such as Roar Lapras, roar Blastoise, and Encore Walrein are also suited to prevent Curse Walrein from sweeping.
**Fighting-types**: Although they would prefer not directly switching onto Walrein, Hitmonlee and Hitmontop have enough bulk to stomach a hit and pressure Walrein with their super effective STAB moves. On the rarer side, Poliwrath resists Walrein STAB and can hide behind a Substitute and threaten to set up with Bulk Up or Belly Drum or to fire off a powerful Focus Punch, as long as it doesn't get forced out by Encore, Roar, or a super effective Hidden Power.
**Calm Mind users**: Without Encore, Walrein can be exploited by Calm Mind users such as Grumpig and Golduck, both of which can also dodge Toxic with Substitute and boost their Special Defense to prevent Walrein from breaking the Substitute with its STAB moves. However, Earthquake can break their Substitute regardless of Calm Mind boosts.
**Pokemon with super effective coverage**: With a bit of chip damage, Walrein can be revenge killed by faster Pokemon such as Choice Band Solrock, Nidoqueen, and Haunter, but none of these want to fight Walrein from full health unless Walrein si asleep.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/wenderz.331114/
- Quality checked by: https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ellingtonreborn.619555/
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
Walrein distinguishes itself as a Water-type by its balance of bulk and offensive presence that allows it to serve as a check to threats such as Scyther, Gligar, Omastar, Arcanine, and Nidoqueen. It's secondary Ice-typing makes it gives it an offensive edge over other Water-types such as Blastoise as it offers Walrein a secondary STAB that threatens Vileplume and Cradily while scoring notable KOs on important targets such as Scyther. Moreover, unlike its main competitor Lapras, Walrein retains a key resistance to Fire- thanks to its ability Thick Fat, making it more reliable against Arcanine.
In spite of these attributes, Walrein faces stiff competition from other Water-types that offer appealing utility in the form of Rapid Spin or Heal Bell such as Tentacruel, Blastoise, and most importantly, Lapras, which on top of not being as susceptible to Toxic also tends to be more immediately threatening thanks to its access to Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt. Moreover, while Walrein is not a slouch offensively, it fails to effectively threaten some of the bulkiest Pokemon around, such as Kangaskhan and once again Lapras.
[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Earthquake / Surf
move 3: Surf / Hidden Power Grass
move 4: Toxic / Encore
item: Leftovers
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
Thanks to its bulk, coverage, and STABs, Walrein is a very resilient Pokemon in a lot of one-on-one matchups. Ice Beam is Walrein's main STAB option, allowing it to threaten Flying-, Grass-, and Ground-types such as Scyther, Gligar, Cradily, Vileplume, and Nidoqueen. Earthquake allows Walrein to effectively threaten Lanturn as well as Poison-types such as Tentacruel and Qwilfish, all of which could take advantage of Walrein otherwise. Surf is recommended for its ability to threaten Arcanine with a potential OHKO, making Walrein a more reliable answer to that threat. Surf also covers Rock-types such as Solrock, Lunatone, and Aggron while hitting Glalie fairly hard, preventing it from getting Spikes too easily on Walrein. Surf also has the added benfit of offering a strong STAB that can be used to save Ice Beam PPs in long battles. Hidden Power Grass is another method to damage Water-types, most notably threatening Omastar with a potential OHKO to prevent it from getting Spikes on the field. Hidden Power Electric is also an option if Walrein doesn't pack Earthquake, as unlike Hidden Power Grass it retains a super effective hit on Tentacruel and Qwilfish. Toxic is recommended to pressure Pokemon that Walrein cannot effectively break through such as Kangaskhan, Hypno, and other Water-types such as Lapras, Blastoise, Feraligatr, and opposing Walrein. Finally, Encore is an option to allow Walrein to check some setup sweepers such as Curse Lapras or Calm Mind Slowking. It can also be used to lock some of Walrein's usual answers such as Kangaskhan and Lapras into undesirable moves, thus creating opportunities for Walrein's teammates.
The given EV spread ensures that Walrein can two Hidden Power Grass from Arcanine or two Double-Edges from Choice Band Scyther after one layer of Spikes. The rest is spent into Special Attack to hit as hard as possible, enough to ensure a OHKO on Scyther and Solrock with Ice Beam and Surf, respectively. More EVs in Special Attack can be considered to hit other notable benchmarks: 212 EVs guarantees that Surf will OHKO Arcanine without any defensive investment and is more than enough to OHKO standard defensive Omastar with Hidden Power Grass. 44 EVs can be spent in Speed to outrun uninvested Solrock.
Team Options
========
While Walrein does a decent job at handling Scyther, it struggles to come repeateadly on Choice Band variants and therefore appreciates backups to play around its usual attacks. In this regard, Omastar and Arcanine are good teammates, the former brings Spikes while the latter offers
[SET]
name: Curse
move 1: Curse
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Rest
item: Leftovers
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
With this set, Walrein can turn into a potent win condition that can defeat some of its usual checks. Although it heavily competes with Lapras due to the latter's greater special bulk and access to Shell Armor, Curse Walrein retains some merits to warrant consideration, most notably Earthquake which makes Walrein much more immediately threatening to Electric-types that would be used to force Walrein out. Ice Beam may seem like an odd choice for a physically oriented sweeper, but it complements Earthquake nicely by hitting Flying-types such as Scyther, Gligar, Altaria, and Xatu without any prior boost. It also dents Vileplume which otherwise is extremely problematic to this variant of Walrein due to Leech Seed and Hidden Power Grass. Rest is mandatory to keep Walrein healthy and cure it from status afflictions.
The EV spread and Sassy nature aim to make Walrein as specially bulky as possible to make it harder to break through on both sides after Curse boosts. Walrein usually wants at least 236 EVs in Special Defense to ensure that Modest Lapras' Thunderbolt will never 3HKO without factoring critical hits.
Team Options
========
One of the most direct ways to prevent Curse Walrein from sweeping is to force it to use Rest before picking it with Electric attacks from the likes of Ampharos and Lanturn. Thus, specially bulky Pokemon suited to handle Electric-types such as Kangaskhan, Vileplume, and Cradily make for solid teammates. Strong wallbreakers such as Choice Band Solrock and Hitmonlee are also able to threaten Walrein with a 2HKO even after a Curse boost, which makes physically defensive backups such as Nidoqueen, Gligar, and Vileplume good backbones. Other setup sweepers such as Lunatone and Swords Dance Feraligatr may be tempted to setup alongside Walrein and break through it. Therefore, it is a good idea to pack checks to these problematic Pokemon such as Roar Blastoise. There may be scenarios where Walrein is forced out after using Rest. Therefore, clerics such as Ampharos, Vileplume, and Altaria make for useful backups to spare Walrein from having to burn sleep turns by itself. Finally, Rapid Spin users such as Tentacruel, Blastoise, and Hitmontop can clear the field of Spikes, easing up Walrein's attempts to setup in front of Pokemon such as Tentacruel, Scyther, and Gligar.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Roar is an alternative to Encore to phaze setup Pokemon and scout the opposing team while possibly racking Spikes damage. Protect is another option that lets Walrein get its health back from Leftovers safely, is quite effective alongside Toxic, and let Walrein scout Explosion and what moves Choice Band users such as SOlrock lock themselves onto. Walrein can also choose to foregoe offensive investment and spend all of its EVs into bulk to be even more safe against the likes of Gligar, although it will miss some important guaranteed KOs against the Pokemon it is supposed to keep in check such as Arcanine and Scyther on top of being easier to switch into. Curse Walrein can consider Hidden Power Ghost to hit Misdreavus, Solrock, and Lunatone super effectively, but Ice Beam provides more important coverage overall. Substitute can be used alongside Encore as Walrein can get some free turn by locking the opposing Pokemon into a move ineffective against Substitute such as Toxic or, on the contrary, get a free Substitute after locking an opposing Pokemon onto an undesirable move with Encore. REst can also be considered on non Curse set to provide Walrein some longevity.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Kangaskhan**: Walrein usually fails to outdamage Kangaskhan's Rest loop and can get poisoned or slowly worn down as a result. The only thing Kangaskhan has to worry about from standard Walrein is the rare Encore which can lock it into an inconvenient move. On the other hand, Curse Walrein has a better shot at eventually breaking through Kangaskhan.
**Electric-types**: By virtue of its typing, Lanturn can switch into Walrein without much trouble and threaten it with Thunderbolt, but it has to watch out for Toxic, Earthquake, and Hidden Power Grass. Ampharos has enough special bulk to withstand several Ice Beam, does a large amount of damage with Thunderbolt, and can bypass Toxic with Heal Bell, but it has to respect repeated hits from Walrein's STABs. Other Electric-types such as Electabuzz, Manectric, Electrode, and Raichu also threaten Walrein, but have more trouble switching into its attacks.
**Residual damage**: Toxic outweighs Leftovers recovery and heavily hamper Walrein durability as a result, especially if it lacks Rest. Spikes are also very troublesome as they limit Walrein's ability to switch into the threats it's supposed to keep in check such as Scyther, Gligar, and Arcanine.
**Water-types**: Without Hidden Power, Lapras fears virtually nothing from Walrein as it can shrug off Toxic with Heal Bell and threaten it with Thunderbolt, although it fails to 3HKO Curse Walrein. The same applies to opposing Walrein if Walrein lacks Toxic or Hidden Power Grass. Curse Lapras, Curse Walrein, and Calm Mind Slowking can also use Walrein lacking Encore or Roar as a setup fodder. If Walrein lacks Earthquake or Hidden Power Electric, then it is powerless against Tentacruel and Spikes fodder for Qwilfish. Feraligatr is more susceptible to Toxic and Hidden Power, but can otherwise set up with Swords Dance on Walrein and threaten it with a boosted Rock Slide. Phazers such as Roar Lapras, roar Blastoise, and Encore Walrein are also suited to prevent Curse Walrein from sweeping.
**Fighting-types**: Although they would prefer not directly switching onto Walrein, Hitmonlee and Hitmontop have enough bulk to stomach a hit and pressure Walrein with their super effective STAB moves. On the rarer side, Poliwrath resists Walrein STAB and can hide behind a Substitute and threaten to set up with Bulk Up or Belly Drum or to fire off a powerful Focus Punch, as long as it doesn't get forced out by Encore, Roar, or a super effective Hidden Power.
**Calm Mind users**: Without Encore, Walrein can be exploited by Calm Mind users such as Grumpig and Golduck, both of which can also dodge Toxic with Substitute and boost their Special Defense to prevent Walrein from breaking the Substitute with its STAB moves. However, Earthquake can break their Substitute regardless of Calm Mind boosts.
**Pokemon with super effective coverage**: With a bit of chip damage, Walrein can be revenge killed by faster Pokemon such as Choice Band Solrock, Nidoqueen, and Haunter, but none of these want to fight Walrein from full health unless Walrein si asleep.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/wenderz.331114/
- Quality checked by: https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ellingtonreborn.619555/
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
Last edited:
