Brooo!

[Consumptus]

I had some time, and thought I'd try my hand at one of these. Also, I won't try anymore frat jokes. I'm not that witty.

Slowbro, the Hermit Crab Pokemon.

Picture by Lunar117

Slowbro is notably in OU over other Amnesia users mainly due to Slowbro's just-right stats and just-big-enough movepool. Psychic typing also gives it a one-up on the other Amnesia users as it allows Slowbro to completely shut down Alakazam. Great natural defensive bulk as well allows Slowbro to take physical hits with the best of them as it sets up.

TobyBro
Amnesia, Surf, Thunder-Wave, Rest
The most popular Slowbro, and for good reason. This set allows Slowbro to stand toe to toe and beat a Mewtwo lacking Thunderbolt. I believe it was used in Ubers first, but it also does very well in OU. Starmie and Chansey are the main counters. Paralysis support from the team is of course very helpful as TobyBro is as slow as Snorlax.
Chansey can hope for a critical Thunderbolt, but Surf's 24 pp stalls and kills Chansey's 16 pp Softboiled. Starmie resists TobyBro's Surf, and has Recover which does have more pp than Surf but takes 59-69%. Which means once set up, TobyBro is most likely going to sweep.

Slowbro - I can't think up a nickname =(
Amnesia, Psychic, Reflect, Rest
I started using this Slowbro a month(?) ago with great results in my opnion. Starmie usage has dropped among RBY2k10 and Psychic lets Slowbro beat Chansey and Alakazam with a Special fall. Reflect makes Explosion less scary and lets Slowbro set up on Snorlax as well as Exeggutor.
Starmie and Chansey remain as great counters to Slowbro. But that most likely is never going to change. PP is also another problem. 8 less attacks than TobyBro means Psychic Slowbro users have to be efficient with them.

[garrinred]

Slowbro is made of pure evil. I say this because it is capable of fighting and killing all standard forms of Zam, something no other OU pokemon can consistently do.

[Isa]

I always have a lot of problems battling all kinds of Bros. Amnesia too good.

You should probably mention the Bro with Surf/Rest/Amnesia/Reflect, which is the most popular alternative to TobyBro.

[jorgen]

Withdraw deserves a mention for giving Reflect-like benefits while being the ultimate stalling tool.

Ice beam could deserve a mention, too, for the Slowbro-Slowbro stall wars that might be possible in a hypothetical alternate-universe metagame.

After all, the most reliable way to deal with Slowbro is to stall it out, just like anything else with Amnesia. The best way to deal with it is still to stick Starmie in front of it and abuse its crit rate, though. Sleeping/Freezing it is basically hitting the jackpot if you can manage it. Failing any of that, blowing up on it isn't a bad route to go if it isn't boosting its defense or is being careless with when it chooses to rest.

Slowbro's one of those things that is unbeatable in theory, but comes up short all too often in practice.

[t3h Icy]

A perfectly setup Slowbro is one of the top Pokemon in the game for pure destruction, only under things like Mewtwo.

Slowbro is pretty subpar without both Amnesia and Rest, you also need an attacking move, and the last is up to you, and there are several viable combinations. For attacking moves, Surf is standard, Psychic cuts some damage and plays more luck-based, but also stalled by more Pokemon, and Blizzard/Ice Beam is often just for Exeggutor, but could be used for Freeze attempts. Doubling up on attacking moves works, or you can support with Reflect, Thunder Wave, maybe Withdraw. Counter is a bit quirky, but can cover for last-ditch efforts with Tauros/Snorlax, but ideally, Slowbro can OHKO them anyway unless not fully setup. Fire Blast could also be potentially interesting, but I'd suggest not using it.

To take out Slowbro, you'll generally want a fast Pokemon with Thunderbolt such as Starmie or Lapras. Gengar can work too briefly, Chansey can stall Slowbro if it doesn't have Psychic and Chansey isn't Paralyzed, and the Electrics offer STAB, but will get KO'd fast on setup Slowbro. If you're really frustrated with Slowbro, Venusaur and Victreebel could use Razor Leaf to pierce Amnesia, but are a little off on a OHKO. If you can get Tauros out on Rest, he can often take him out if he gets a CH.

If you're looking for a hard counter (despite slow and re-counterable), Vaporeon is a great choice. Vaporeon is RBY's more Water resistant Pokemon, and has Haze, while slowly working for a Freeze (and Haze can clear Paralysis). Vaporeon, like a few other Pokemon can survive two setup Surfs, so even Paralyzed, Vaporeon can switch in safely. This is obviously a 1v1 situation, but Vaporeon is the safest choice in disarming Slowbro and can heal the damage taken.

[Nerd]

Slowbro is awesome, but also risky; opponents seem to always crit repeatedly against it while it attempts to set up. I suggest you use amnesia, rest, one of psychic/surf, and one of twave/reflect/an ice move (for eggy). You can use fire blast for style points instead, but you lose the ability to freeze an opposing Slowbro.

I lost to an alakazam (without seismic toss) once with a Slowbro (tobybro set) when 1-on-1 at the end of a game once, so there's still hope for you, Garrin.

[Earthworm]

I don't think Chansey can stall Surf Slowbro either since Surf has more PP than Softboiled. It needs to crit it with tbolt or freeze it with ice beam unless it has LS or something.

edit: yeah consumptus I was responding to icy

[Nitro]

Bro is amazing. Probably the most underrated OU pokemon. Besides all the setup potential, it's a great par spreader as it's great for landing twaves on things like gengar and starmie that would usually avoid them like the plague, allowing your lax/golem to thrive.

If you don't have twave (or a par on chansey) it's very likely you will lose that battle, however. Since surf isn't a guaranteed 2 shot at full setup and trying to outstall softboiled while Bro is paralyzed she's going to get off like 8-10 tbolts at least, meaning a very real possibility that you'll be crit down.

[hipmonlee]

Lightscreen chansey!

Though I am pretty sure it still loses in a pp war..

Maybe next week I will see if I can get my wrap simulator to have a go at various slowbro vs starmie scenarios to see how often each one wins.

[garrinred]

Use WW's Special anti-Slowbro Starmie from the RBW tourney.

[Isa]

The one with Surf as its only damaging attack?

[davidchansey]

As long as it prevents it from killing every other pokemon, I'd say it would be successful.