Purugly is what I like to call a “spammer”. It’s not going to do much in the way of raw power, but it can manage to make your opponent want to pull their hair out (like Serene Grace Dunsparce). Quite honestly, if you’re trying to use Purugly as a brute attacker, you’re using it for the wrong reasons. It has excellent Speed, but won’t be hitting much with its meh base 82 Attack stat, nor will it be surviving for very long in battle with its frail defenses. However, this chubby cat has access to some very interesting disruptive moves, and with base 112 Speed, it can pull it off even in the OU environment before landing face-first into the dirt by an opponent’s move.
Like I said, Purugly is a “spammer”; it’s designed to trip a Pokémon by its heels, but nothing else. If you time it just right, you can really mess up a crucial fighter to your opponent’s team.
Abilities:
Thick Fat – halves fire and ice damage done to Purugly. I guess it’s a good ability... But Purugly isn’t expected to survive long anyways. Plus, based on the strategy I’ve come up with, you really want the Focus Sash to go into effect, which is only possible by having full health.
Own Tempo – prevents Purugly from becoming confused. The chances of an opponent wasting its time inflicting status on Purugly, especially confusion, are most likely very slim
Defiant (Dream World) – If any of Purugly’s stats are lowered, its Attack is raised two stages. This might be helpful if you keep switching Purugly around and happen to run into an Intimidator. It’ll add a
little more punch to its attacks.
;432;
The “Spammer”
Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly (+ Spd, - Sp. Atk)
-Super Fang / Flail
- Fake Out
- U-Turn
- Flail / Sucker Punch
Well, if Purugly’s so weak in Attack, why not give it the magical
Super Fang that instantly halves all opponents’ HP? As you enter battle, you can use
Fake Out to mess with the opponent.
U-Turn lets Purugly scout and escape from “unworthy victims”. When your health is unavoidably chopped down, the
Focus Sash will keep you just barely alive, maxing out
Flail’s power and allowing you to do some serious damage. However, if you have Super Fang already in your roster and don’t want to be blocked by Ghost types,
Sucker Punch gives super-effective damage and priority.
Other Options:
Knock Off will let you take away the opponent’s item and potentially mess them up.
Taunt to mess up bulky Pokémon
Torment to prevent the opponent from using the same attack over and over.
Doubles and Triples:
Purugly probably shouldn’t be placed in Double and Triple battles. It’s too easy a target to get picked clean by your opponents. Plus, the fact its attacks are practically all single-targets doesn’t make it very appealing to use in multiples anyways.
Attack Index:
-
Fake Out – Lvl. 1, Glameow / Purugly
-
Flail -
Egg
-
Knock Off – PtHGSS tutor, Glameow / Purugly
-
Sucker Punch – PtHGSS tutor, Glameow / Purugly
-
Super Fang – Lvl. 41, Glameow only
-
Taunt – TM 12, Glameow / Purugly
-
Torment – TM 41, Glameow / Purugly
-
U-Turn – TM 89, Glameow / Purugly
which is a shame because it looks so cool but other pokemon like Ambipom do this better and with better moves while hitting harder