Community POTW #043

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémopn of the Week and this week we are heading...to Kitakami

It's Ogerpon...all four (eight) forms!

Ogerpon #1017 - Serebii.net Pokédex

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

www.serebii.net

 

[XaelOstigian]

I can't really do my blurb without spoiling the Teal Mask DLC, so I will keep it short. Ogerpon is cute, and threatening in the competitive sphere. Probably not Uber legendary in terms of strength, but still good!

Eat Your Heart Out Momotaro
Ability: Defiant/Mold Breaker/Water Absorb/Sturdy
Item: Any of the Masks
Nature: Jolly
EVs: (HP 4) (Attack 252) (Speed 252)

Moves:
Swords Dance
Ivy Cudgel
Horn Leech/Wood Hammer//Play Rough
Knock Off

Set Details:
A Swords Dance sweeper (Or cudgel sweeper I guess). Set up Swords Dance to jack up your physical attack, and then have Ivy Cudgel serve as your spamable STAB depending on your mask choice. Horn Leech will function as your secondary STAB and HP recovery move, but if you want more power at the expense of HP you can use Wood Hammer as an alternative Grass move. If you are using the Teal Mask variant, you can just use Play Rough instead which handles a plethora of Dragon, Dark, and Fighting types. The last move is for neutral coverage, and Knock Off is your best option for both damage and item disruption as an added bonus. Honestly any of the Masks and the respective dual typing will work, and all seem tailor made to compensate for Grass type weaknesses both offensively and defensively. Same goes for the ability choice which in the end is all down to preference and what type you want to balance out your team with. Though a special mention goes to the Teal Mask and Hearthstone Mask since if you Terastalize into the former you get a much needed speed boost and the former granting you even further physical attack. Invest all into physical attack but mostly speed, then proceed to bludgeon your opponent with this adorable oni.

So far I really like what Gamefreak did with the DLC this generation. Without spoiling anything, they really gave Ogerpon a lot of character, and I look forward to where the DLC goes from here.

 

[RishRaff]

Ogerpon is honestly one of my favorite Legendary Pokemon that Game Freak has graced us with in a long while. It has a really interesting gimmick with its different masks, and has been shaping up to be quite the competitive Pokemon. It is definitely difficult to discuss Ogerpon without spoiling some of the DLC, so take this as your warning now about SPOILERS!

As the days roll by, the appeal and strength of Ogerpon have become very clear to the competitive Pokemon community. Besides unique typings and new abilities, equipping a mask to Ogerpon gives its a 1.2x damage boost to all of its moves! This makes Ogerpon very powerful and reduces the opportunity cost of not running another item like Choice Band or Life Orb. In terms of stats, Ogerpon is a fairly standard build of physical sweeper with good Attack and Speed backed by usable bulk that allows it to at least one or two neutral hits. All of this is backed up by a great movepool and amazing signature move in Ivy Cudgel, which gives it guaranteed STAB regardless of the forme.

The biggest issue for Ogerpon is that is locked into a specific Tera type and with that comes some predictably in all of its sets. However, this is a admittedly a small price for such an amazing Pokemon that will be sure to be a blessing regardless of the team its on.

Teal Mask Supporter
Ability: Defiant
Item: Leftovers/Heavy-Duty Boots
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Att/ 252 Spe
- Spiky Shield
- Ivy Cudgel/Horn Leech
- Encore
- U-Turn

The base Teal Mask forme of Ogerpon is the forme that faces the most competition from other Grass types, namely Zarude and Rillaboom. The former enjoys a secondary STAB and better bulk, and the latter also has superior bulk plus higher Attack and superior ability in Grassy Surge to maximize damage output. While Ogerpon is designed as an offensive sweeper, it does have a really solid support movepool that I attempted to highlight here to separate it from its competition. The Teal Mask forme benefits as the only forme able to hold an alternate item. The main idea is for Ogerpon to enable a follow-up sweeper with Encore. Spiky Shield scouts the move and Encore locks the foe into it, with an emergency Tera enabling you to outspeed with Embody Aspect if needed. U-Turn then allows you to pivot to your teammate easily enough. Ivy Cudgel does the most damage and can take advantage of potential Defiant boosts, while Horn Leech provides some recovery. A similar set can be run by the Wellspring Mask, which offers a superior defensive typing.

Hearthflame Mask Offensive
Ability: Mold Breaker
Item: Hearthflame Mask
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Att/ 252 Spe
- Ivy Cudgel
- Swords Dance
- Trailblaze/Wood Hammer/Power Whip
- Play Rough/Knock Off

Hearthflame Mask is arguably the best Ogerpon forme, benefiting immensely from good coverage in its STABs and the Attack boost from Embody Aspect. The choice of Grass STAB depends on whether you want the Speed boost of Trailblaze to better enable a sweep, the reliablity of Wood Hammer, or the safety (in other words, lack of recoil) of Power Whip. Play Rough makes the most sense for coverage to hit Dragon types that otherwise resist your STAB attacks. Mold Breaker is great for Ogerpon, allowing it to break through Unaware and Flash Fire abilities, amongst others.

Wellspring Mask Offensive
Ability: Water Absorb
Item: Wellspring Mask
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Att/ 252 Spe
- Ivy Cudgel
- Swords Dance
- Trailblaze/Wood Hammer/Power Whip
- Superpower/Knock Off

Similar to the Hearthflame, but updating the coverage a bit to benefit the STAB change. Water Absorb is useful for absorbing Flip Turns and avoiding Scald burns, so not as redundant that Wellspring's already 4x resist to Water attacks would suggest. As previously mentioned, the support set would also work well with Wellspring, since it gains a Sp. Def boost from Embody Aspect and has the best defensive typing amongst the masks.

Cornerstone Mask Offensive
Ability: Sturdy
Item: Cornerstone Mask
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Att/ 252 Spe
- Ivy Cudgel
- Swords Dance
- Trailblaze/Wood Hammer/Power Whip
- Stomping Tantrum/Knock Off

The offensive coverage of Grass and Rock is actually quite amazing. Furthermore, Cornerstone Mask is the Ogerpon forme it makes the least sense to Tera into, given the terrible defensive profile of pure Rock types and that the forme doesn't have the best defensive typing to begin with. Instead, an all-out offensive set makes more sense. Sturdy ability even helps here, since it enables you to more reliably set up Swords Dance. Using Stomping Tantrum for coverage gives Ogerpon a pseudo-EdgeQuake coverage, though Knock Off is probable more reliable and disruptive. Also, fun fact, with the Cornerstone Mask, Ivy Cudgel easily becomes the best and most reliable Rock type attack in the game.

Overall, Ogerpon is suited to take the metagame by storm. I have enjoyed building teams around her various masks. Personal opinion, I prefer Trailblaze as the Grass STAB to get that Speed boost and breaking things is typically left to Ivy Cudgel.

 

[Ghyst]

Ogerpon be strong:

Beware The Ogre:
Ogerpon @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ivy Cudgel / Horn Leech
- Throat Chop
- Brick Break / Zen Headbutt / Stomping Tantrum / Play Rough

Standard regular mask set. Set up with Swords Dance and then sweep.

This Ogre's on Fire!
Ogerpon @ Hearthflame Mask
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Speed
Adamant Nature
- Ivy Cudgel (Fire)
- Horn Leech
- Brick Break
- Zen Headbutt

This sets makes use of the Hearthflame Mask to give Ogerpon a Fire move in Ivy Cudgel. This form is arguably the best of the four but the lack of item on it does hurt it a bit. However, it is still strong with powerful moves. It gets more scarier when Terastallized.

 

[Mestorn]

Was anyone expecting Ogerpon to be so cute without its Mask? I wasn't. Ogerpon is fascinating, have a good stat distribution that enables a multitude of roles, and a movepool to match, with its Masks + Grass STAB, healing in Horn Leech, potential priority in Grassy Glide, Low Kick, Play Rough and Stomping Tantrum for coverage, Knock Off for Item disruption, U-Turn for pivoting, Swords Dance for boosting, Spikes for Hazard support, Follow Me for redirection support, and even the insanely rare Spikey Shield for an even better Protect. While Ogerpon is a jack of all trades thanks to its stats and movepool, whether it becomes a master of none or master of all remains to be seen.

Teal Wisp
Ogerpon
-Ivy Cudgel
-Knock Off
-Follow Me
-Spikey Shield
Ability: Defiant
Item Attached: Leftovers/Rocky Helmet
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Base Ogerpon has two significant advantages over its other forms being the only one that can use items aside from the designated masks and the only one with the fantastic Defiant ability, enabling Ogerpon to punish use of Intimidate, Icy Wind, Snarl, etc. to actually boost its attack to frighteningly high levels. Ivy Cudgel is the mainstay STAB on every Ogerpon set. It is incredibly hard to turn down a drawbackless Base 100 STAB move. Knock Off provides Ogerpon coverage and invaluable utility removing opposing items like Heatran's and Iron Hand's Assault Vest, Chi-Yu's and Flutter Mane's Choice Specs, etc. Ogerpon getting the insanely rare Follow Me is quite the boon. While not as bulky as other redirectors like Amoongus, Ogerpon is still bulky enough to take a hit or two, invaluable for protecting Chi-Yu, Landorus-T, and Arcanine-H from Urshifu-Rapid. Spikey Shield rounds out the set, which further punishes any contact attackers, enabling Ogerpon to play offense while on defense.

EVs are to get the most out of Follow Me and Defiant, balancing out Speed and bulk, though one can conceivably go for Max Attack and more coverage. Leftovers helps supplement Ogerpon's bulk while Rocky Helmet makes Urshifu-Rapid regret clicking Surging Strikes.

Burning Leaves
Ogerpon (Hearthflame)
-Ivy Cudgel
-Horn Leech
-Spikey Shield
-Swords Dance
Ability: Mold Breaker
Item Attached: Hearthflame Mask
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Hearthflame Ogerpon is by far the most offensive variant of the 4, having Superb Fire-Grass STAB that is incredibly synergistic, even moreso in Doubles than Singles. Dragons are rare in VGC formats due to the dominance of Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao and Hearthflame Ogerpon actually has a decent match up against the most popular Fire type Heatran thanks to Mold Breaker ignoring Flash Fire, ensuring Heatran is taking neutral, if not super effective damage from Ivy Cudgel. Horn Leech is Grass STAB and gives Hearthflame good staying power. Spikey Shield is super Protect, and a contender for the best move in Doubles. Swords Dance rounds out the set, enabling Hearthflame to counteract Intimidate and apply even more pressure, with Hearthflame's good bulk easing setup.

Other Options
Stomping Tantrum -destroys opposing Fire types like Chi-Yu, and Armarouge that otherwise don't mind Hearthflame's STABs.
Knock Off -good neutral coverage and the accompanying item disruption is a very tantalizing option.

Water Lily
Ogerpon (Wellspring)
-Follow Me
-Horn Leech
-Ivy Cudgel
-Spikey Shield
Ability: Water Absorb
Item Attached: Wellspring Mask
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature

The most defensive of Ogerpon's forms, Wellspring Ogerpon highly emphasizes its role as redirection support and being the absolute best Water check available. Follow Me becomes all the more powerful when there is a Water type attacker on the field like Urshifu Rapid, Empoleon or Milotic, utterly nullifying their powerful Water attacks and staying healthy to continue to do so. Or if it safe to do so (like after said targets using Protect/Detect), just outright eliminate them with STAB Horn Leech while keeping Wellspring healthy to continue walling duties. Ivy Cudgel is for Water STAB, eliminating targets like Landorus-T, Bloodmoon Ursaluna, Chi-Yu, H-Arcanine and more. Spikey Shield rounds out the set as the best move in doubles.

Stone Oni
Ogerpon (Cornerstone)
-Ivy Cudgel
-Wood Hammer
-Low Kick
-Spikey Shield
Ability: Sturdy
Item Attached: Cornerstone Mask
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Despite Rock being pushed as a "defensive" type, it really isn't the case, and that holds true for Cornerstone Ogerpon, who only resists Normal and Electric. However, Ivy Cudgel immediately gains attraction as the best physical Rock Attack due to the fact it has perfect accuracy. Which is enough to carve out a small niche for this form as an offensive attacker, using Ivy Cudgel and Wood Hammer to bludgeon most foes into submission with rather complimentary coverage (Ivy Cudgel hits Bug and Flying types while Wood Hammer wrecks Ground types). Low Kick is added as coverage to hit the Steel types that otherwise resist both STABs. Spikey Shield is on as the best move in doubles, scouting for attacks, stalling out beneficial effects, baiting Teras, etc.

Other Options:
Horn Leech -good for re-enabling Sturdy if you can get enough healing.
Swords Dance -pushes Ogerpon's damage to Ogre all incredible levels.
U-Turn -good for pivoting and punishing opposing Grass types (re: other Ogerpons and Rillaboom)