Trio Trio Trio
Jul 18, 2011 18:14:56 GMT -8
Post by t3h Icy on Jul 18, 2011 18:14:56 GMT -8
Dugtrio is a really unique Pokemon, being the fastest Ground, outspeeding Nidoking by a whopping 70, and being very fragile. Dugtrio is one of the most common BL Pokemon in OU, but can't quite compete with the Rock/Grounds overall. Dugtrio looks really simple, but he actually has a lot of tricks that can throw your opponent off.
First, if OHKOs are ever legal, absolutely use Fissure. Dugtrio is the fastest OHKOer by 20 Speed (over Tauros), and has the nice ability of being immune to Thunder Wave and being able to switch into it with ease and follow with Fissure. However, Fissure is almost always illegal.
The first thing for Dugtrio is clearing out a move that is sometimes used, but not really useful; Rock Slide. Rock Slide is great against many types, but being non-STAB, Slash and Earthquake are almost always better, and also more accurate.
Rock Slide vs Jynx - 197-168 (59%-50%)
Earthquake vs Jynx - 196-167 (59%-50%)
Super-effective Rock Slide is negligbly stronger than STAB Earthquake.
Rock Slide vs Zapdos - 125-106 (33%-28%)
Slash vs Zapdos - 117-99 (31%-26%)
Super-effective Rock Slide is a little stronger than Slash.
Rock Slide vs Articuno - 226-192 (59%-50%)
Slash vs Articuno - 105-90 (27%-23%)
So Rock Slide is mainly for doing 4x, and there exists no other 4x combination than Flying something (there are no Fire/Ice, Fire/Bug, Ice/Bug Pokemon). So to sum up, Rock Slide is only useful for Articuno, Charizard, Moltres, Butterfree and Scyther. It can be useful for 2x like Zapdos if you're hoping for a CH (since Slash is already CHing), and with Dugtrio's high CH chance (23.4%), that's not unreasonable. Still, I wouldn't really recommend Rock Slide, but that's mostly personal preferences; some players may insist on it.
Now, Body Slam is great for Paralyzing, but Dugtrio is a quick, offensive Pokemon and ideally you'll be wanting to damage Pokemon up. It is nice for Exeggutor switches if you're uncomfortable switching out, and can be useful for other things too. It's a preference like Rock Slide, and like Rock Slide, Body Slam can easily out-damage Slash with a CH. The chance for either a CH or Paralysis per Body Slam is 46.38%, which is pretty high.
So let's assume you don't want either Body Slam or Rock Slide and are interested in other moves. What else can Dugtrio do with his limited moveset? Here's a few tricks.
First is Dig. Dig is usually frowned upon and is one of those moves the in-game players and kids love that's not really good, but Dugtrio has some things he can do with it. The most obvious use is dodging Explosions, and due to how fragile Dugtrio is, it's a bit of a waste to kamikaze against Dugtrio, but if the opponent needs to make sure Dugtrio gets taken since he can be dangerous, they could explode. Using Dig, you dodge the Explosion and the following turn you can think of it as both you and your opponent knowing you'll Earthquake. If the opponent's switch can't capitalize, Dugtrio gets to survive, but even if Dugtrio is KO'd the following turn, you get an extra attack in on the opponent (perhaps CHing), and you switch into the opponent instead of blind switching after Explosion. The reason why other Pokemon can't do this is due to Speed, and Alakazam could use Dig, but his Attack is garbage and his moveset is often too tight to fit in Dig.
Sounds like a waste so far, but Dig has another interesting use for Alakazam. Being Speed tied with Alakazam and being immune to Thunder Wave, Dugtrio will be randomly attacking first or second when facing Alakazam. The idea is to use Dig as an attack, perhaps going first during the turn of Dig to avoid Psychic, and the following turn, attacking second after Alakazam misses again. It's a 25% chance, but the first turn isn't what's important, so it's 50%. After actually hitting Alakazam with Dig, the following turn, you have a chance to KO Alakazam before he can Recover, giving an 83.7% chance to 2HKO, and counting either hit CHing, that goes up to 90.2%. But let's go more in-depth to show how this is really working.
Dug and Zam will represent the turn order across 3 turns, giving 8 possibilites.
Dug-Zam-Dug-Zam-Dug-Zam: Dugtrio will dodge Psychic, hit Alakazam and then Alakazam either heals or attacks you. Best case: Alakazam healed, but still lost some HP and could be CH'd. Worst Case: You get hit by Psychic, possibly CH'd, but you hit Alakazam too. The following turn, you have a high chance of finishing off Alakazam.
Dug-Zam-Dug-Zam-Zam-Dug: Same as above, except the third turn, you get hit so Alakazam will get the KO. Earthquaking would have been better in this case.
Dug-Zam-Zam-Dug-Dug-Zam: Perfect. You dodge two Psychics, or make Alakazam heal no HP, while you hit him with Dig and then likely finish him off the next turn.
Dug-Zam-Zam-Dug-Zam-Dug: Same as above, but Zam hits you in the following turn or heals. You already have a damage lead, so this is still in your favor.
Zam-Dug-Dug-Zam-Dug-Zam: Likely fatal unless you CH, so Earthquake would have been better.
Zam-Dug-Dug-Zam-Zam-Dug: Since Alakazam is hitting you twice, this is identical as above since the third turn will never occur unless Alakazam heals.
Zam-Dug-Zam-Dug-Dug-Zam: You take a hit, but you get the Dig and then Earthquake combo. Dugtrio is likely to win this unless Alakazam CHs.
Zam-Dug-Zam-Dug-Zam-Dug: You take a hit and hit with Dig, but Alakazam will get the finish. However, since Alakazam attacked twice before you, Earthquaking would have been the same result.
So only 3 of the 8 cases would have been better with Earthquake, while Dig is equal or better for the other 5. There are a few small problems with this. The most obvious one is Alakazam switching out to take Dig, but you at best hit a Pokemon with Dig and about to be forced to switch, and worst is Alakazam hits you and then you Dig another Pokemon for assumably low damage. Chances are though that if your opponent has Pokemon to switch to, they would have on turn one and not risk Alakazam possibly fainting (to an expected Earthquake), so if you're doing this, Dugtrio shouldn't be having problems with switches at the moment anyway. If the opponent switches to something just to take the hit, such as Snorlax or Tauros, you'll be able to hit with Dig and follow with Earthquake the next turn (guaranteed as Dugtrio isn't Speed tied with them), giving some high damage and two chances to CH.
The other issue is if Alakazam gets a chance to use Reflect. Fortunately Slash covers this and after you finish with Dig, you just Slash from there on.
Slash vs Alakazam - 165-140 (53%-45%)
Earthquake/Dig vs Alakazam - 175-149 (56%-48%)
Reflected Earthquake/Dig vs Alakazam - 89-76 (28%-24%)
So you do end up with a slight disadvantage, but you have a 50% chance to hit with a Reflected Dig before Alakazam hits you with Psychic, and potentially you can hit with Slash the following turn before Alakazam even gets in the first Psychic, so Reflect is very manageable. On top, the dangerous 23.4% CH chance cuts through Reflect.
So Dig is better than Earthquake alone against Alakazam, but it has to be used carefully for possible switches.
The next trick is a rarely if ever used move, Growl. Growl has a 100% chance to lower Attack by one level and Dugtrio is the second fastest user, under Jolteon. But what can Dugtrio do with Growl?
Snorlax's Body Slam vs Dugtrio - 166-141 (61%-52%)
Growled Snorlax's Body Slam vs Dugtrio - 112-95 (41%-35%)
With Growl against Snorlax, you lose a turn to Growl, but gain a turn in survival. If Snorlax Paralyzes with Body Slam, you still get to do one attack, just as if you hadn't used Growl, and Snorlax's CH chance is so low that it's not much of a gamble. You could also use Growl a second time and Body Slam becomes a 4HKO, but the opponent may be more eager to switch then and gives Snorlax more time to Paralyze you (and more for you to FP). One is good. So Growl's entire purpose is you lose a turn, you (most likely) gain a turn, but Snorlax is now weaker. This could force a switch to something easier for Dugtrio to face, and by switching into his Earthquake, you get to do another immediately after. In the case you get unlucky and Snorlax takes out Dugtrio without getting your turn gained or Dugtrio loses the 1v1 (which is most likely no matter your tactic), Snorlax's Attack is still a mere 212 and Snorlax is essentially forced to switch or do piddly attacks. Even Chansey can survive a Growled Snorlax's Self-Destruct.
Golem's Earthquake - 195-166 (71%-61%)
Growled Golem's Earthquake - 131-111 (48%-41%)
Rhydon's Earthquake - 219-187 (80%-68%)
Growled Rhydon's Earthquake - 147-125 (54%-46%) (733/1521 chance to 2HKO (48.2%))
The same technique can be used on Golem and Rhydon. While they have higher CH chances, Earthquake can't Paralyze like Body Slam, and some Snorlaxs may have Special moves, while Golem and Rhydon always attack with Physical moves (except perhaps Surfing Rhydon). Using Growl on Rhydon is a little risky though as it may not get Dugtrio out of the 2HKO range, but it can work.
How about fast Pokemon? Growl could be used for Tauros and while it's recommended for Tauros to use Body Slam twice (instead many use Blizzard and then Body Slam, which means you lose a turn in highly desired Paralysis on Dugtrio and can miss), Tauros's CH chance is a lot higher than Snorlax and it starts to get really risky. But, the damage you take back supports it otherwise:
Tauros's Body Slam - 156-133 (57%-49%)
Growled Tauros's Body Slam - 104-89 (38%-<33%)
Growling makes Body Slam take an extra turn.
Tauros's Blizzard - 205-174 (75%-64%)
So if your opponent did what is usually better and used Body Slam first and then used Blizzard the next, there's a 147/1521 (9.7%) chance to survive if neither CHs, which is just a nice little bonus on top of forcing Tauros to use a slightly less accurate move. Do note that if your opponent uses Blizzard first normally, Dugtrio's Growl will have been useless if the opponent follows with a second Blizzard.
And one more fun calculation:
Exeggutor's Explosion - 397-338 (145%-124%)
Growled Exeggutor's Explosion - 265-226 (97%-83%)
If Exeggutor decides to switch into Earthquake and counter with Explosion (perhaps if Exeggutor only has about 50% HP on the switch), you can survive Explosion just by Growling. This of course works with other Explosions, but since Exeggutor is the most common counter for Dugtrio, this trick is really nice, but players may prefer Sand-Attack instead.
So should you use Growl? Growl works as a secretive, pseudo-anti-Physical technique. It will often cost Dugtrio no turns by giving Dugtrio an extra turn to live, but anything following Dugtrio's demise will take less damage too, or ultimately force the opponent to switch out which you can play with. Use with caution.
And there's also Sand-Attack, but it's pretty self-explanitory and only increases/decreases chances that are common knowledge (accuracy of moves hitting, etc). Sand-Attack may increase the chance of Dugtrio beating a Pokemon 1v1 or force switches, but it could result in doing no damage with Dugtrio, just like Growl, so if you use it, make sure you know how much it's really helping you. The only real Sand-Attack trick is using Sand-Attack on a switch-in and following with another, to lower an opponent's accuracy down two levels before they get to attack. Most commonly, this will be Exeggutor, which helps for Sleep Powder, Explosion and since Dugtrio is a great lead for Gengar and nice for Alakazam, this is very easy to setup. Just remember that nothing is guaranteed and all you're doing with Sand-Attack is increasing your chances for success, but the more turns you spend using it, the quicker you start actually decreasing your chances for success, as you give the opponent more opportunities to attack, despite a less chance of success for each one individually.
So what should Dugtrio's set have? Fissure for sure if it's legal, but since it probably won't be, Earthquake and Slash are key. The other two moves are up to you and can include Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Rock Slide, Sand-Attack, Growl or something else interesting.
