Special sweeping toxicroak stratagy?

Ok so the plan is to suprise people so they think it’s a physical sweeper but is actually a special sweeper.ToxicroakamonEvs/ 252 sa 252 s 4 a@ ? Need help with itemAbility/ anticipationSucker punch to fake physical and make them think you are scarfed.Sludge wave stab good moveDark pulse pure covrageShadow ball also covrageSo I keep sucker punching so they think I’m a choice item physical sweeper and than when they least expect it I start sweeping with special attacks.Is it to risky and also I need and unsuspecting item(not life orb)

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

In the dpp era, special Toxicroak was a very good set. Despite its physical set seeming and perhaps also being superior to its special set, special Toxicroak has the ability to break through and or to set up on more Pokemon while “only” losing potential hits on certain Pokemon, such as Lati@s, Gengar etc. while hitting Pokemon such as Skarmory, Slowbro, Rotom-W etc. for much more damage.In gen IV, the special set was much easier to counter than the physical set, but due to how the metagame has evolved, you could say that they are pretty much on par as the special set makes Toxicroak very similar to an Adaptability Dragalge with the ability to boost, however at the cost of some bulk.Surprise factors aren’t necessarily always a good reason to use a certain set over another, but once they create their own noticeable niche, they are most certainly worth trying out.Special Toxicroak is definitely an interesting choice, but I must say, despite your mixed lure Toxicroak being very interesting, it won’t work. Toxicroak has good offensive stats but they aren’t high enough to split into both attack and special attack while retaining enough speed to function in this current metagame.

A more optimal take on a special Toxicroak would be:

Toxicroak @ Life OrbAbility: Dry SkinEVs: 4 Def/ 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid / Modest Nature- Nasty Plot- Vacuum Wave- Sludge Wave- Dark Pulse / Focus Blast

I think the moves are very straightforward. Nasty Plot enables you to boost Toxicroak’s special attack to rather threatening levels.Vacuum Wave is a STAB priority move which enables you to KO Bisharp, KO Mega Lopunny at +2 some other interesting stuff.I believe we’re all familiar with Sludge Wave’s amazing power. Despite it not being as powerful as Gunk Shot, it obliterates physical walls that fail to resist it. Physically defensive Rotom-W is 2HKO’d by it and OHKO’d when you have a Nasty Plot up. At +2, it enables Toxicroak to defeat every fairy type in the game, which might not seem that impressive due to the fact that Gunk Shot does the same unboosted, but the fact that it can set up on Pokemon like Rotom-W make it easier to pull off, and it’s more reliable. It also KOs Mega Slowbro at +2.Lastly Dark Pulse rounds of special Toxicroak’s coverage and enables it to hit psychic types for great damage. An interesting fact is that if you happen to be at +2 and something like Metagross is yet to mega evolve, you will outpace and KO it with D-pulse, but I do admit that this is a pretty rare scenario. Focus Blast is also an option to hit the likes of Scizor, Ferrothorn, Skarmory etc. for incredible damage as it KOs Skarmory and Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage while KOing the bulkiest variants of Mega Scizor at +2 as well as 2HKOing Chansey and Blissey.

As you can see, basically special Toxicroak vs physical Toxicroak is pretty much like using special Lucario over physical Lucario, or vice versa, just that Lucario has higher offensive stats and speed, but Toxicroak’s typing enable it to set up and get passed more Pokemon, such as Rotom-W and Keldeo.

Basically, all I wanted to say is that, Toxicroak can be a special sweeper, but in order to do so, you would have to edit your set and I would recommend you editing it into the one I posted above.

The strategy is good in theory, but with Toxicroak’s Spa. Being 20 points less than his attack - I wouldn’t exactly class him as a “sweeper”, more of a " Trickster"You could, however use theMetronomeas a good item. It boosts moves consecutively so if you are just using Sucker Punch it will get more powerful after every useI hope this helps

Hmm. To be brutally honest, this isn’t a good strategy. It iswaaaytoo risky, Continuous Sucker Punching allows them to set up, or Leech Seed you, or set up entry hazards. If you’re hooked on a special set, you’re much better off running Nasty Plot, but then again, Toxicroak’s most viable set is a physical sweeper set. In addition, Anticipation is not a very good ability. Even if you were to go through with this idea, Poison Touch gives Sucker Punch a chance to poison, which is better than Anticipation. Also, a more effective way to bluff a Choice item is to give it the Black Glasses or Dread Plate, then switch out after Sucker Punching.

If you wanna run a special toxicroak, replace sucker punch with nasty plot, give it a focus sash, and run either shadow ball or dark pulse for your psychic coverage, what’s unused can be replaced with focus blast for a secondary stab or give it a sitrus berry and belch over sludge wave, belch is a great move as contrary to common belief it works infinintelly once the berry is eaten, even upon switching. You can run different berries aswell, but sitrus is my preferred because its a HP boost not lost upon switching, but thats just me. Hope I helped!