Community POTW #003

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon and, you guessed it, this week we're covering Quaquaval!

Quaquaval #914 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Quaquaval Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

www.serebii.net

Go nuts

 

[XaelOstigian]

Dancer Duck of Destruction
Ability: Moxie
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
EVs: (HP 252) (Attack 252) (Speed 252)

Moves:
Swords Dance
Aqua Step
Close Combat
Ice Spinner

Set Details:
Eat your heart out Swan Lake, because once this set gets going it is hard to stop. Set up Swords Dance to jack up your physical attack while Aqua Step serves as both Water STAB and a means to boost your speed thanks to the guaranteed +1 speed with each use. Close Combat will be your strongest attack and secondary STAB, and Ice Spinner hits a variety of other types for coverage such as Grass, Flying, and Dragon with the added bonus of destroying any terrain effects on the field. Thanks to Moxie as its ability, Quaquaval can easily snowball out of control once it gets a knock out or two, especially when used in tangent with Aqua Step's speed boost. Life Orb adds further power, and stats are invested all into attack but mostly speed.

So have fun cutting a rug and cutting down the opposition with this foot-loose water fowl.

 

[Mestorn]

And just when you thought you got away from Moxie Max Airstream Strats... Gamefreak pulls you back in...

Quaquaval's Aqua Step completes the tri-fecta of absurd starter STABs. What was once a decent sweeper let down by its slightly below average speed, Quaquaval's signature move instantly catapults it into terrifying late-game sweeper territory able to escalate out of control after picking up a single KO.

However, Quaquaval has some serious issues. Water Fighting is a great STAB combination, but several popular walls like Toxapex, Slowbro, and Amoongus wall its STABs, with Terablast Electric being the only recourse for Toxapex. Azumarill threatens unless Quaquaval is at +3 (or +2 with entry hazards) Dondozo is also problematic. While STAB Close Combat does sting:

252 Atk Life Orb Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Dondozo: 212-251 (42 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Quaquaval will tear itself apart to do so while Dondozo will Curse and Rest it off, winning the war of attrition (it needs to come after a KO or its slow speed would just make it another KO). Additionally, Palafin being such an excellent Pokémon near invalidates every other offensive water type, which is already a crowded field with Azumarill, Cloyster, Gyarados and others all vying for the top spot.

Quaquaval's lackluster speed is still a pain point. Until it sets up a single Aqua Step, outspeeding it is rather easy. After a Single Aqua Step it still loses to every faster Choice Scarf user.

Other Options
Substitute -Foils attempts to status Quaquaval, but for best effect has to be run with Swords Dance, and you are giving up valuable coverage to do so.
Rapid Spin -Entry Hazard removal is at a premium in this generation and while Corviknight and Great Tusk are the gold standards, but other options are worth consideration.
Brave Bird -Chunks Amoongus and Annihilape... and Quaquaval. Also so happy this isn't Gen 8 cause Max Airstream from Quaquaval is a terrifying thought -it has enough methods to boost its speed as it is.
Baton Pass -As if Quaquaval isn't hard enough to deal with as it is when it can pass its boosts to a teammate.

 

[XaelOstigian]

Additionally, Palafin being such an excellent Pokémon near invalidates every other offensive water type, which is already a crowded field with Azumarill, Cloyster, Gyarados and others all vying for the top spot.

Palafin actually got banned by Smogon over a week ago. So the other new Water types still have a chance to shine. Funnily enough, Iron Bundle also got banned. What a time to be alive that a form of Delibird is considered overpowered. XD

 

[Mestorn]

Palafin actually got banned by Smogon over a week ago. So the other new Water types still have a chance to shine. Funnily enough, Iron Bundle also got banned. What a time to be alive that a form of Delibird is considered overpowered. XD

There are other formats aside from Smogon. So have to balance formats where Palafin is allowed and others where it is not. Same reason why Baton Pass is even being suggested. But yeah, conversations assuming where Palafin is banned are likely to be more healthy and allow Quaquaval to shine.

 

[Divine Retribution]

A separate section for Smogon formats vs BSS could be considered along the same vein as how we have separate sections for Singles and Doubles/VGC already, at least for Pokemon where their viability is significantly different between Smogon formats and BSS.