Physical Attacker or Special Attacker Salamence?
I want to make a team based on Salamence; I don’t know yet what the others are going to be yet.So I want to make my Salamence a Special Attacker, but the more I looked at the moves and explored it, I learned that the game creatorswantus to make Salamence a Physical Attacker.It’s Attack base stat is higher than it’s Sp. Attack base stat, it’s hidden ability is Moxie and it can learn the move Dragon Dance. Much more. But I am still unsure.What should I do?
Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.
Youcanmake a Special Salamence, although it should mainly be used for Physical attacking.
Physical Reasons:- Higher Attack than Special Attack- Dragon Dance- Has access to Double Edge, one of the most powerful Aeriliate moves in the game.- Has HA Moxie
Special Reasons:- Special Attack is, although lower than its Attack, usable.- Has access to Hyper Voice, a powerful spread move which is Aeriliate boosted.
However, you should only use Physical/Special Mence if your team requires it. I’d recommend you use a Physical Salamence, as the higher Attack will help you many times, and not much can take a Aeriliate boosted Double Edge directly to the face. This is a Battle-Spot set, although can be used for Smogon tiers etc.
Salamence @ SalamenciteAbility: IntimidateEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Dragon Dance- Double-Edge- Earthquake- Roost
Pretty simple stuff, however only use DD when you are safe. If you are threatened, use Double Edge or Earthquake to KO the other Pokemon before they KO you. You also may want to consider when you Mega Evolve, as Intimidate destroys threats such as Mega-Kangaskhan and Landorus.
Hope I helped!
I’m going to caveat my answer: I don’t have any experience of using Salamence for Gen 5. And that said, though there were some pretty big changes between 5 and 6, I’ve offered my thoughts based on my knowledge of using Salamence in Gen 6. Salamence is also my all time favourite Pokemon, so I have a lot of experience with using it in general. I hope you find this informative.
When it comes to items, on Special Salamence you have two options:
Choice Scarf; faster, but frequent switching in/out may be a pain with Salamence’s weakness to Stealth Rock. Activating Intimidate every time does somewhat lessen the pain though.
Life Orb. Essentially your Aerialite boost! And whilst Salamence may not be fast enough to hit first,setting up Tailwind would double Mence’s speed and greatly increase the chances to hit first. This will also allow you to choose a Modest nature over Timid to ensure that you hit hard, and you hit fast.
Consider something like:
Salamence @ Life OrbAbility: IntimidateEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeModest Nature- Draco Meteor- Fire Blast- Tail Wind- Hydro Pump
That’s a coverage of Super Effective against 8 types, and guaranteed neutral damage on everything else. Consider the following damage calcs:
252+ SpA Life Orb Salamence Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Kyogre: 165-195 (40.9 - 48.3%) – guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery (or 9.2% 2HKO post Stealth Rock)
252+ SpA Life Orb Salamence Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 84 SpD Ho-Oh: 216-255 (52 - 61.4%) – 96.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Salamence Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 80 SpD Lugia: 188-224 (45.1 - 53.8%) – 2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Salamence Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 200 SpD Dialga: 239-282 (59.1 - 69.8%) – guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
These are three examples of Pokemon who are either tanks or have a neutral coverage to all of Salamence’s attacks, yet still it is able to outspeed all 3 (even without Tailwind) and inflict a respectable amount of damage. Against weaker Pokemon, or those that are susceptible to one of it’s moves, it’s pretty clear that Special Salamence is definitely an option.
With regards to other team members, I likethisset from the Rate My Team Forum. I know it;s Gen 6 and mega Salamence, but there’s not THAT much difference between special Salamence and it’s mega counterpart, plus all it’s team mates are <= Gen 5.
