Lickitung
Dec 22, 2011 10:33:03 GMT -8
Post by GGFan on Dec 22, 2011 10:33:03 GMT -8
Type/s: Normal
HP: 383
Attack: 208
Defense: 248
Speed: 158
Special: 218
Overview
Lickitung's stats indicate that he's rather useless: the worst speed stat for a fully-evolved Pokemon (tied with three others), meager offensive stats, and a defense stat that's mediocre at best. However, his HP is high enough to somewhat make up for his defensive shortcomings, and is the only Pokemon in the game who has access to Swords Dance + STAB Body Slam and Hyper Beam. After just one Swords Dance, Lickitung 2HKOs--on average--everything in the game except for Aerodactyl, Cloyster, Slowbro, Snorlax, Mew, and Mewtwo. With enough luck, Lickitung might be able to kill a Pokemon or two in any metagame.
OU strategy
Physical sweeper
~Swords Dance
~Body Slam
~Hyper Beam
~Earthquake/Surf
The best way to utilize Lickitung's strengths is to bring him in against a paralyzed Pokemon that has fainted one of yours. Because Lickitung can't outrun anything, he has only a few opportunities to switch-in--and this is the most reliable. Basically, the strategy is to use Swords Dance, hope that the opponent can't move, and then attack. If you're really bold, you can use Swords Dance twice; by doing so, Lickitung's attack will jump to a monstrous 624, which means that only a handful of Pokemon won't be OHKOd by Hyper Beam. Earthquake will 2HKO Gengar and Golem/Rhydon after one Swords Dance, but Surf has a bit of merit because it will do more damage to the latter without needing a boost. It could come in handy if you find yourself not having the chance to set-up.
Lickitung can also try to set-up against a sleeping Pokemon, but the switch-in will probably be something with Thunder Wave. Paralysis impedes Lickitung tremendously--every turn counts when using him in OU. He won't be contributing much if you can't pull off a Swords Dance, which makes him inferior to most sweepers that can be productive without needing a boost. However, he is bulky enough to survive two Psychics from Alakazam, so he might be able to rebound from one turn of bad luck.
Other options
Not really. Lickitung, being a Normal-Type, has a voluminous movepool, but he's best off inflicting as much damage as possible. No other moves allow him to do that.
Favorable match-ups
Lickitung needs paralysis support and luck to be a substantial contributor in OU; he doesn't have much of an advantage against anybody. Everything in OU hits him relatively hard, and he can't retaliate without Swords Dance. Well, he does okay against Chansey, but she can just paralyze him before leaving.
Counters
A sizable portion of the metagame can switch-in against Swords Dance and kill Lickitung. For example, Lapras can switch-in against Swords Dance and nearly 2HKO with Blizzard. He doesn't take a lot from Body Slam, either. Starmie can paralyze him and spam Recover. Slowbro, with high defense, Thunder Wave, and Amnesia, doesn't fear Lickitung at all. Alakazam can switch-in and use Reflect, which will stop Hyper Beam from OHKOing. Overall, it's easy to put Lickitung in an untenable position.