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Community POTW #121

Serebii

And, as if by magic, the webmaster appeared...
Staff member
Admin
Time for the next Pokémon of the week and this week we return to Galar!

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It's Grapploct!

 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Grapploct is pretty much completely eclipsed by other Fighting-types, such as uh... well, name a Fighting-type. It's stats aren't awful, it has good Attack, but it's also got average bulk and terrible speed, and there's a ton of other Fighting-types who do pretty much everything it can do but better. In a way, it's a lot like Magmortar in this regard. It's not terrible on paper, but when you consider how heavily outclassed it is, it is in practice.

It does get a couple interesting moves. The first is Topsy-Turvy, a fairly rare move that flips the target's stat changes, turning boosts into drops. A very potent move, if he lives long enough to use it on a dangerous set-up sweeper. Which he won't. It could be useful with a Focus Sash, but at that point you might as well just run a Pokemon with Metal Burst or Counter/Mirror Coat or something. Or Roar. Or any other method of dealing with set-up sweepers.

The next, exclusive to Grapploct and its pre-evolution, is Octolock. This move prevents the target from switching and lowers its Defense and Special Defense by 1 stage each turn. If you must use Grapploct for some reason, this is the move I would abuse. It's not hard to play around this move if you know what it does (such as immediately switching into something that can force Grapploct out... which is a lot.) but frankly Grapploct is so rarely used that many opponents won't take Octolock into consideration, potentially letting you trap and remove key Pokemon like Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Brave Bird-less Skarmory.

Fair warning; this set is 100% a theorycraft. I've never used Grapploct competitively and likely won't use it outside of randbats or something, but if I was forced to use it, this is what I'd try first.

grapploct.gif

Grapploct @ Leftovers
Adamant - Limber
248 HP, 252 Attack, 8 Def
-Drain Punch
-Stomping Tantrum
-Octolock
-Substitute

The combination of Octolock and Substitute gives you the chance to trap certain defensive Pokemon (Toxapex is a prime target here, being the defensive backbone of many teams, generally not fearing Fighting-types, and completely susceptible to this set) and whittle down their defenses, eventually letting you KO them. Drain Punch is a decent STAB move that lets you recover some of the damage you'll take in the process, either from attacks or from Substitute. Stomping Tantrum is mainly for Toxapex as it otherwise gets largely redundant coverage with his STAB, but honestly trapping Toxapex is about the most useful thing you can do with this Pokemon anyways. Ice Punch, Sucker Punch, and Brutal Swing (with Technician as his ability) are coverage moves that he could theoretically make use of, but it's hard to justify dropping anything on this set as to do so would be to throw away what tiny little niche Grapploct has over other Fighting-types, and there really aren't many opponents he can hit with them that don't outspeed and OHKO him.​
 

Mestorn

Wandering Battler
Grapploct joins the ranks as yet another forgettable fighting type. Like Passimian from the generation before, it is decent, but its gimmick is not enough to have it stand out from the rest of the crowd. 80/90/80 Defenses aren't bad per se, Zapdos gets by with slightly higher, but Zapdos has a far superior typing, Ability, and Recovery. Grapploct gets none of those things (Drain Punch & Pain Split < Roost). 118 Attack is good, but there are so many Pokémon with higher attack, that it isn't even a footnote. And that horrible base 42 Speed means that Grapploct is leaning heavily on its Defenses which are just not up to snuff. It feels like Game Freak over balanced Grapploct, which is fair, its lockdown move Octolock is up there for one of the most brutal in the game, but since it is a move and not an Ability, it is rather easy to play around.

Fighting types have been on a downward Spiral ever since Gen VI with the introduction of Fairies, with only the legendary G-Zapdos and Urshifu, Ultra Beast Buzzwole and Mega Lopunny, Mega Blaziken, and Mega Medicham (which are all purposely overpowered) making any headway. Grapplocts typing is the biggest obstacle for any attempts at locking down -there is nothing that it can lockdown that wouldn't be able to hurt it bar the most passive of Pokémon, and its moveset does not lend it much to other strategies since it lacks the moves to properly abuse Technician.... Not that its going to stop me from trying.

Octo-Bouncer
Grapploct
Ability
: Technician
Item: Leftovers
-Bulk Up
-Circle Throw
-Brutal Swing
-Drain Punch/Sucker Punch
Nature: Adamant (+ATK, -SATK)
EVs: 252 HP / 4 ATK / 252 SDEF

This set takes advantage of your opponent being cautious of Octolock -use the switch to Bulk Up, then start throwing your opponent's strategy in shambles by throwing around their team with Technician boosted Circle Throw onto a bed of entry hazards. If a Ghost type comes in? Break them with a Technician boosted Brutal Swing. Last move is up to preference. Drain Punch gives Grapploct more longevity while Sucker Punch gives it a valuable priority option.

EVs are specced to max out Special Bulk -you are leaning heavily on Bulk Up to put your Attack and Defense up to snuff.
 
Last edited:

XaelOstigian

Competitive...kinda
If GameFreak had made our Octo bulkier it would have been fun to use with Octolock. Honestly, I feel the same thing happened with Pincurchin in the stat distribution sector. Couldn't commit fully to attack or defense, so it went with both and sucked at both...
 

RishRaff

Prince of the Sea
Grapploct actually has a decent offensive movepool, carrying things like Sucker Punch, Ice Punch, Liquidation, and basically every Fighting type move available. It also has usable abilities with Limber to keep it from Paralysis and Technician to boost the weaker moves, which is legendary ability on many other Pokemon like Scizor. It also has a solid Attack stat of 118. Despite all this, Grapploct is unremarkable and often forgotten. This is due to its average stats and pure Fighting typing. There are so many stronger and more usable Fighting types. Maybe if Grapploct had a more interesting typing (like Water/Fighting) or stat distribution that was more unique it’d be usable, but for now, it is outclassed in every tier it could ever hope to appear in.
 
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