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Community POTW #060

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Serebii

And, as if by magic, the webmaster appeared...
Staff member
Admin
Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this week we go to Johto

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It's Azumarill!

 

Mestorn

Wandering Battler
From one Belly Drum Sweeper to another. While Azumarill is far from a one trick pony as opposed to Eiscue, Belly Drum boosted blows from it are terrifying. 100/80/80 defenses attached to the fantastic Water/Fairy typing makes Azumarill fairly bulky, and Huge Power turns a pathetic base 50 attack into a force of destruction.

Rabbit of Caerbannog
Azumarill
Ability
: Huge Power
Item: Sitrus Berry
-Belly Drum
-Aqua Jet
-Play Rough
-Liquidation/Knock Off
Nature: Adamant (+ATK, -SATK)
EVs: 4 HP/252 ATK/252 SPE

Belly Drum Azumarill is a threat that is meant to come in late game where all of its checks are weakened or removed so you can go for the setup and sweep. Aqua Jet is the bread and butter of the set, giving Azumarill STAB priority and forcing your opponent to run priority of their own if they want to outspeed Azumarill in the event they have no resists.

+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 304-358 (76 - 89.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 112 HP / 20 Def Spectrier: 465-547 (126 - 148.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 96 HP / 0 Def Regieleki: 550-648 (169.2 - 199.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tornadus-Therian: 381-448 (105.2 - 123.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 451-532 (160.4 - 189.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela: 309-364 (77.6 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 318-375 (102.2 - 120.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 201-237 (63.4 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The Numbers are clear. If the target is frail, it is falling to Aqua Jet. If the target is frail with a resist or Bulky, it will be 2HKOd. While Belly Drum does cut into Azumarill's bulk, Sitrus Berry does counteract it somewhat, and even at 75%, Azumarill can often stomach a hit. Play Rough is STAB for the moments where Aqua Jet is just NOT an option. Final option falls between Liquidation for strong STAB, or Knock Off, which hits everything that resists Azumarill's STAB combo.

Other Options
Perish Song + Whirlpool -gimmick set, but Azumarill's bulk is decent and can nab a KO against anything that can't KO it in time.

Checks and Counters
The number of pokémon that can stomach Azumarill's moves after a Belly Drum is a short list: Unaware Quagsire, Unaware Clefable, G-Weezing, and Pyukumuku (Ferrothorn and Amoongus are OHKOd by +6 Knock Off without max investment and Toxapex has an 81% chance for the OHKO from Knock Off). Pokémon that null/resist water attacks can try to KO Azumarill before it switches to Play Rough or Knock Off in the face of a predicted Aqua Jet, but Azumarill is fairly bulky. Priority moves are in a similar boat. Rillaboom is fantastic, having STAB Super Effective priority and can easily stomach an Aqua Jet. Kartana and Tapu Bulu are in a similar boat, just without the priority as is Tangrowth to a lesser extent.

Burning Azumarill is a great way to stop it dead in its tracks, as that really eats into its famed offense. The standard Water checks will work against Azumarill after a burn as will most physically bulky walls.
 

XaelOstigian

Competitive...kinda
Azumarill and its pre-evolution Marill have an interesting history in the Pokemon franchise. They were among some of the truly "first" new Pokemon being revealed in the Pikachu's Vacation short alongside Snubbull right before the Mewtwo movie decades ago.
tumblr_n7lexthmtz1r8sc3ro1_r1_250.gif

It was also used by Tracey in the Orange Island saga despite still not yet being found in the games. When Marill and Azumarill were finally released in gen 2, the fanfare did not quite live up to expectations. Despite being featured in the new game introduction in the "Strange creatures we call Pokemon" segment, Marill was stupidly hard to find in Gold and Silver being only a 1% chance to find one in Mt. Mortar and forcing you to listen to Hiker Perry go on and on about his Onix until he decides to tell you that Marill are swarming in Mt. Mortar. And despite being stupidly hard to find, catching and evolving Marill into Azumarill wasn't even worth it back then with those lousy offenses and only doable defenses. Gen 3 gave it three new features: an adorable pre-evolution (Which is Normal type for some reason), Belly Drum (But sadly it was too slow to make proper use out of it), and most notably Huge Power as an ability which turned its lousy base 50 physical attack into something truly frightening. Gen 4 gave it Aqua Jet allowing you to bypass your poor speed and hit hard with your awesome attack power, but sadly it could not run Belly Drum in tandem with it due to breeding restrictions at the time. It wasn't until several generations later when both parents could contribute to egg moves that Azumarill truly came into its own as a truly frightening sweeper, and it even got Fairy typing to further cement itself as a top tier threat in the competitive metagame. Don't expect an easy time when you face off against this playtoy bunny. It was a long road coming since gen 2, but Azumarill proves that any Pokemon can make a comeback from being a poor joke to an elite 1st class threat:
season03_ep48_ss02.jpg

Bun Bun Drum Drum
Ability: Huge Power
Item: Sitrus Berry
Nature: Adamant (+Attack -Sp. Attack)
EVs: (HP 252) (Attack 252) (Speed 4)

Moves:
Belly Drum
Aqua Jet
Play Rough
Superpower/Ice Punch /Waterfall/Body Slam

Set Details:
Boost with Belly Drum to multiply your already huge attack by 4, recover health with your Sitrus Berry, and become capable of downing pretty much any Pokemon not packing Water resistance. Aqua Jet compensates for Azumarill's lack of speed allowing you to sweep other sweepers easily despite the low base power. Play Rough is your secondary STAB of choice and has good coverage with Aqua Jet albeit far from perfect. The last slot is a matter of preference. Superpower handles Ferrothron and some choice defensive counters, Ice Punch is your best option against Grass types that resist Play Rough, Waterfall is a more powerful Water STAB alternative to Aqua Jet, and Body Slam has good all around type coverage with the added bonus of potentially causing paralysis. Nature and EVs go exclusively into attack and HP so Azumarill hits as hard as physically possible while still being able to withstand the first attack while setting up Belly Drum.

Whether you are an old fan of Pikablue, or just a recent convert in the competitive metagame, you cannot deny the love that this adorable aqua rabbit has in the Pokemon fanbase.
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BillyBobJoe

Well-Known Member
So Azumarill is kind of weird. With higher Special Attack, it appears to be a special attacker, or potentially a mixed attacker given how close the two are (kind of like Blaziken). However, Huge Power firmly places it as a physical attacker, which is also bolstered by Sap Sipper (one of the few Pokémon that have a weakness covered by an ability like this, excluding Levitate).

Good Coverage Moves:
  • Dig, Bulldoze; Mud Shot- Electric, Poison
  • Bounce, Ice Punch; Icy Wind, Ice Beam- Grass
  • Future Sight- Poison
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
azumarill.gif

Azumarill @
Bag_Leftovers_Sprite.png
Leftovers
Bold - Sap Sipper
248 HP, 252 Def, 8 Sp. Def
-Whirlpool
-Perish Song
-Protect
-Scald / Rest

This set preys on many of the more common Belly Drum/Choice Band Azumarill's answers; specifically bulky Grass-types such as Ferrothorn and Tapu Bulu that can usually sponge a hit from and dispatch Huge Power Azumarill variants. This Azumarill traps them with Whirlpool, negates their Grass STABs thanks to Sap Sipper, and then removes them with Perish Song. Protect is used to stall out one turn of Perish Song as well as to collect a free turn of Leftovers recovery. The last slot can either go to Scald, arguably his best attacking option thanks to its 30% Burn chance, or Rest, which heals him and may allow him to trap more than one threat in a single battle.

Ideal teammates for this Azumarill are other water-typed sweepers who share similar checks, such as Dracovish, Barraskewda, Gyarados, and Kingdra, as well as Electric-types who appreciate bulky Grasses being removed such as Tapu Koko, Regieleki, and Rotom-W. This set also works particularly well in the Monotype format on Water teams, as it is the only Water-type to have the Sap Sipper ability and thus be immune to Grass.​
 

Locormus

Can we please get the older, old forum back?
In response to the Eiscue-page. To whoever is writing these, there wasn't really any reason to be that negative about it. It's a gimmick-mon, but that's not a reason to trashtalk it like that. Maybe select somebody else to write these if that's the quality of the content that's being put out.
 

Ophie

Salingerian Phony
In response to the Eiscue-page. To whoever is writing these, there wasn't really any reason to be that negative about it. It's a gimmick-mon, but that's not a reason to trashtalk it like that. Maybe select somebody else to write these if that's the quality of the content that's being put out.

I'd also like to point out that Japanese players on Ranked in Sword & Shield have been using it pretty well in both single and double battling. The idea is simple: Eiscue is well-suited for some battles but not others. You don't HAVE to pick Eiscue in every battle you play.
 

Locormus

Can we please get the older, old forum back?
I'd also like to point out that Japanese players on Ranked in Sword & Shield have been using it pretty well in both single and double battling. The idea is simple: Eiscue is well-suited for some battles but not others. You don't HAVE to pick Eiscue in every battle you play.

This. There was no reason to mug it off as if it's the second coming of Delibird..
 
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