Community POTW #020

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and we have an Alola Pokémon!

It's Salazzle, the Poison/Fire-type Pokémon

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-sm/758.shtml

Go nuts

 

[Golurk]

Salazzle
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power Grass

 

[Lucario At Service]

Salazzle, the Pokemon with the 2nd highest base speed stat of the new 7th Gen Pokemons (not considering Legendaries or Ability affects), after Ribombee. And with a unique ability, 'Corrosion' which allows it to poison even Steel and Poison types.
Also has a respectable 111 Sp.Atk along with its 117 Spd.

Salazzle @ Firium Z/Poisonium Z
Timid Nature
Ability: Corrosion
252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Fire Blast/Flamethrower
- Venoshock/Sludge Wave
- Toxic
- Nasty Plot/Venom Drench

 

[HeatEdgeSword]

Ditch Venoshock and Venom Drench. Venoshock and Venom Drench aren't good on Salazzle as she is too frail to make good use of them. Then again, these moves are pretty flawed to begin with.

And Toxic isn't that important. Sure, it may come in handy when she's dealing with Poison-type, but that's about it.

 

[ampfire101]

Salazzle has a sorta meh kind of role in VGC, it offers nice Fake Out and dual STAB Fire and Poison type moves. Great 117 speed and 111 SpA, but its defensive stats and typing are rather mediocre. Meh is also a good way to describe its abilities, best to not use Corrosion as it lacks defenses to make good use of it and Toxic. Oblivious is probably best because you can't be Taunted so you can still use your status moves like Encore, Snatch (for the popular Tailwind teams), Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, Protect, and Disable. It also gets Fake Out which has always been good in Doubles. Works best with a Sash, with Flamethrower/Fire Blast, Sludge Bomb, Fake Out, and then a status move, but you could make a case of an offensive variant with Life Orb, a STAB move for both of its types, Hidden Power, and Protect and a Life Orb. Timid nature works best, but if you aren't concerned with speed the Modest is also fair game.

 

[Neosonic97]

And Toxic isn't that important. Sure, it may come in handy when she's dealing with Poison-type, but that's about it.

I dunno. Toxic works particularly well against two particularly bulky 'mons often seen in these formats (I'm specifically referring to Toxapex and Celesteela). Considering Salazzle CANNOT OHKO standard Celesteela without any boosts (Well, unless it uses a Z-Move) and fears Celesteela running Earthquake and just plain can't harm Toxapex full stop outside of its ability, So Toxic does have its uses poisoning particular bulky 'mons that are normally immune to poison- not just Celesteela and Toxapex, but also stuff like Bronzong, Muk, Mega Venusaur, Tentacruel and Nihilego. That third one is of particular note as Mega Venusaur would otherwise hardwall the Toxic Lizard Pokemon.

 

[Missingno. Master]

Corrosion Commotion
Salazzle@Focus Sash
Timid nature
Corrosion
252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed/4 HP
~Fire Blast
~Sludge Wave
~Dragon Pulse/Venoshock
~Toxic

Salazzle is an interesting one. This set's pretty straightforward, though. Fire Blast and Sludge Wave are for STAB. Dragon Pulse is extra coverage. Toxic takes full advantage of Corrosion, letting you poison what previously could never be poisoned. Venoshock works over Dragon Pulse if you can last long enough to Toxic something and feel like putting in some extra damage.

Item lets Salazzle last a little longer. Ability lets Toxic do its thing to basically anything.

Super Sexy Salazzle Sweep
Salazzle@Focus Sash
Timid nature
Oblivious
252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed/4 HP
~Fire Blast
~Sludge Wave
~Dragon Pulse
~Nasty Plot

This Salazzle focuses less on poisoning stuffs and more on raw power. Nasty Plot is obvious. Fire Blast and Sludge Wave are STAB. Dragon Pulse is coverage.

Item secures Salazzle some setup survival. Ability ensures Nasty Plot can't be Taunted.


Other options:
*...It's got Fake Out. That's a thing.

Abilities:
*Corrosion: Salazzle is able to inflict Poisoning regardless of type immunity. It doesn't override immunity to Poison-type damage, just poisoning itself. It also only overrides type immunity to poisoning, not Ability-based immunity to poisoning. Oh, yeah, and don't give this thing a Toxic Orb. But yeah- pretty cool Ability. Up against a tanky Poison-type like Alolan Muk, something you can't reasonably hope for Salazzle to last against? Shoot a Toxic its way! Up against a big, bad Celesteela and you know Fire Blast won't cut the mustard? Toxic!
*Oblivious: Salazzle is immune to Attract, Captivate, Cute Charm, and Taunt. The first three don't really matter in the slightest, but immunity to Taunt? Always a good thing, especially for a setup sweeper like Nasty Plot Salazzle. If you're gonna sweep, go for this over Corrosion.

Partners:
Flying-types or things with Levitate, for starters. Salazzle's got a very big Ground weakness, so it'll draw in Ground moves like nobody's business.

Counters:
Alolan Marowak resists both of Salazzle's STABs, so it can switch in with nigh impunity and fight back with a devastating, Sash-breaking Bonemerang. Gliscor is also an interesting option- it's not the best at taking special attacks, but if you're running Poison Heal, and you smell that Toxic coming a mile away...

Opinion:
Where do I begin? The cool design? The type combination I've wanted for-freaking-ever? The extremely awesome new Ability? Yeah, Salazzle is a clear favorite of mine, and not without reason.

Prediction for next week:
Toxapex.

 

[Aduro]

When you see dragon pulse as a coverage move you know a pokemon has movepool problems... then again its a new pokemon and Gen VII doesn't have proper move tutors yet.

 

[Scherzando]

I think one of Salazzle's best roles is as a wallbreaker/stallbreaker. I concocted this set for a Corrosion Salazzle and it shuts down 95% of pokemon in the Battle Tree. XD
Salazzle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Corrosion
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp Atk / 252 Spd
-Toxic
-Taunt
-Disable
-Overheat
How it works: use Taunt first and the opponent will lose a turn if they weren't attacking. Next turn, they'll attack and your Focus Sash will probably save you another turn, and that's when you use Toxic. Third turn, use Disable and that will remove their last attack, which was probably their strongest move. If the opponent is a mono-attacker, they'll be forced to switch out or Struggle because they're still under Taunt. If for some reason you're still around, Overheat. Or taunt/toxic the next pokemon to come in.
This relies on Salazzle being faster than the opponent, so a Timid nature is a must. Pretty much all pokemon you'd counter with this set would be slow/average-speed defensive ones anyway.
Why Overheat? 3 reasons: two of those outdamages two Flamethrowers; Salazzle isn't going to last long; and its purpose isn't to attack, so it probably won't get around to using more than two Overheats anyway.
Salazzle gets all kinds of other crazy anti-setup moves... like Encore. It was tempting but I think Taunt is a priority and Encore would be risky after a taunt.

When you see dragon pulse as a coverage move you know a pokemon has movepool problems... then again its a new pokemon and Gen VII doesn't have proper move tutors yet.

Salazzle's point doesn't seem to be attacking with coverage. Look at all the other options it gets before you say it has movepool problems.

 

[BlackKyurem3DS]

Salazzle, yet another wtf Pokedex entry.
Ability:
Corrosion: Can poison the target regardless of type. If only you could use poison type attacks against steel types with this. Then it would be more useful. Sadly, it only works for status moves. Still can be useful for breaking down walls that would otherwise give you trouble.
Hidden Ability:
Oblivious: The pokemon can't be inflicted with infatuation and taunt as of Gen 6. Bit more useful now that it gives taunt immunity. Just note that immunity to infatuation is pretty useless, giving that no one uses it anyways.

 

[Mestorn]

Slaying Salazzle

Salazzle is easily one of the better pokémon introduced in 7th generation. A blisteringly high SPD plus a respectable SATK in addition to nasty plot means that Salazzle has pretty much everything it needs to be a late game cleaner. On top of that, its ability Corrision means that Salazzle is uniquely situated to counter some of the bulkiest pokémon in the game. However its not all Pheremones and Salandit for our star lizard. Salazzle is crippingly frail. Even dedicated tanks can do serious damage to Salazzle, meaning that it has difficulty finding opportunities to setup. Furthermore, Salazzle's offensive movepool is horrid. Fire and Poison is commonly resisted by Rock types and Salazzle has to rely on Hidden Power to cope (the only other special move of note it has is Dragon Pulse). A weakness to Stealth Rock and vulnerability to Spikes doesn't help Salazzle either, as if Salazzle can't KO a target, it will switch out or die.

For Offensive Salazzles (read: those not carrying Toxic), sponges can easily wall Salazzle. Araquanid walls Salazzle comfortably provided it hasn't setup and OHKO's with its water moves. Diancie (offensive varients work too), Dragalge, Goodra, Jellicent, Mantine, Specially defensive varients of Slowking, and so on call all wall Dragalge and OHKO or 2HKO it with ease. Possessors of Aqua Jet and Banded Lycanroc-Day can easily OHKO if there is slight prior damage to Salazzle before it can react. Other priority users can work, but often lack the damage output needed to pick off a full health Salazzle. Trick Room and Paralysis also bypass Salazzle's blistering speed and make it a sitting duck. Faster threats like Aerodactyl, Ash-Greninja, Mega Lopunny and Dugtrio can all strike and OHKO Salazzle with ease (Banded Crobat gets close) but Mega Lopunny and Dugtrio will need a free switch in.

For many tanks Corrosion Toxic is a death sentence. Even those normally immune to Toxic are ruined (though Steel types not name Heatran would ever switch in to Salazzle to begin with). Magic Guard users ignore toxic damage, but the only defensive one is Clefable who is ruined by STAB Poison attacks anyways. The best way for a tank to counter Corrosion Toxic is to use Rest. Otherwise, Clerical support like Heal Bell, Aromatherapy, Healing Wish, Z-Parting Shot, etc. can heal up your tank after Salazzle is downed.