UU Toxicroak

Hilomilo

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[OVERVIEW]
Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait. In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its decent typing to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Stakataka, Togekiss, and Primarina, while finding setup opportunities against big presences such as Amoonguss and Choice-locked Nihilego. Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. The former move can also patch up Toxicroak's vulnerability to several faster Pokemon that may try revenge killing it like Latias, Starmie, and Gengar. Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Heracross due to its worse Speed, poorer type coverage, and lack of access to a reliable powerful Fighting-type attack. Toxicroak is also quite frail, which alongside its common weaknesses leaves it susceptible to several Pokemon that outspeed it like Mega Aerodactyl, Krookodile, and Hydreigon. Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past the tier's common defensive Ground-types, such as Swampert and Hippowdon, which can all tank an attack and OHKO it.


[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch / Ice Punch
item: Life Orb / Poisonium Z / Darkinium Z
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat. Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack because of its decent damage output and healing capabilities. Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise. When Poisonium Z activates, it becomes a powerful Acid Downpour, capable of OHKOing most neutral targets while patching up Gunk Shot's imperfect accuracy. Sucker Punch OHKOes the fast Psychic-types like Latias and Starmie that will try revenge killing Toxicroak after a boost. When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Black Hole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak, most notably Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Bronzong, and Tentacruel, the latter of which can be particularly annoying due to its access to Haze and Liquid Ooze. Ice Punch can provide super effective coverage against Ground-types such as Gligar and Hippowdon. Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot to remove items and pressure a lot of slower Psychic- and Ghost-types, like Bronzong, Doublade, and Chandelure. However, Black Hole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch.

Set Details
========

Full investment in Attack maximizes Toxicroak's offensive presence with a neutral nature. Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure. Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Empoleon and Mega Blastoise. Life Orb puts a respectable amount of power behind all of Toxicroak's attacks, bolstering its sweeping capabilities. Poisonium Z is an option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue. Darkinium Z can also be used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting it access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Choice Scarf users such as Chandelure and Latias that may try evading Sucker Punch. The lack of power behind Toxicroak's STAB attacks is worth noting, however.

Usage Tips
========

Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Hippowdon and Swampert are removed. Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, such as Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up late-game. When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and Choice-locked Primarina because of the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide. Dry Skin also helps Toxicroak check these Pokemon as well, as it may not be able to set up and sweep upon forcing them out but can still prevent them from fulfilling their roles. If running Poisonium Z, Toxicroak should activate it if it needs to secure a crucial KO without worrying about Gunk Shot's accuracy, such as against Volcanion, or if it wants to power through a defensive Pokemon like Alomomola or Suicune in one hit. If it's being run, Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Doublade and Slowbro. Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think that they can easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them after a boost.

Team Options
========

Toxicroak fits best on bulky offensive teams as a decent late-game cleaner and check to several hindrances to these archetypes, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Empoleon. Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success because it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Swampert and Kommo-o can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave in addition to providing Spikes support. Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Mamoswine, Celebi, and Kyurem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, such as Hidden Power Grass Rotom-H and Grass Knot Infernape, are particularly useful because of their ability to remove the likes of Swampert, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior. Pokemon like Hippowdon and Scizor that are capable of taking care of most common revenge killers can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Hydreigon and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Fire-types like Chandelure, Volcanion, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak to KO quite easily. Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Terrakion, Primarina, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job late-game. Toxicroak appreciates Flying-type checks like Rhyperior and Mega Manectric on its team due to its vulnerability to popular threats in Moltres and Crobat. Pokemon that appreciate checks to bulky Water-types on their teams, such as the aforementioned Fire-types and Cobalion, partner well with Toxicroak thanks to its Dry Skin ability.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative because of Toxicroak's good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users in Infernape and Lucario due to its worse Speed, lower Special Attack, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. It can also potentially be used with Fightinium Z to more reliably power through Ground-types. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable when it isn't being used as a Z-Move, while the lack of recovery forgoing Drain Punch will be met with can prove troublesome. An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss. Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable moveslots and keeps Toxicroak from quickly becoming very offensively threatening. Stone Edge and Earthquake along with either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set. Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin; Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor; and Krookodile, which can lower Toxicroak's Attack to tank a Sucker Punch even more comfortably while KOing it with Earthquake.

**Flying-types**: The likes of Moltres and Mega Pidgeot can easily tank a boosted Sucker Punch while OHKOing Toxicroak in return with their powerful Flying-type STAB attacks. Crobat is especially annoying, as it can easily come in on Toxicroak's STAB moves, tank a Sucker Punch, and OHKO it with STAB Brave Bird.

**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking Speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Black Hole Eclipse. The aforementioned Crobat is also often a particularly troubling opponent.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Krookodile can be particularly burdensome because of its ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.

**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Black Hole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x super effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO them beforehand. Necrozma is especially annoying for Toxicroak to deal with if healthy, as it tanks a boosted Sucker Punch from full HP.

- Written by: [[Hilomilo, 313384]]
- Quality checked by: [[Bouff, 121672], [martha, 384270], [Eyan, 226777]]
- Grammar checked by: [[martha, 384270], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
 
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- Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack, and when boosted is capable of heavily threatening big presences like Blissey, Mamoswine, and Empoleon.

you definitely dont need to boost to pressure any of these pokemon, just say that its a reliable fighting stab move that also keeps croak healthy

the faster pokemon section in c&c can definitely be worded better - running roost on pidgeot isnt rly the main idea here, its that it outspeeds and ohkos...add other examples here like maero and hyda as well (latter cant switch in obviously but it resists a boosted sucker and ohkos almost always with draco from full even if scarf)

1/3
 
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autumn

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C&C Leader
hey, amcheck here, feel free to wait for qc input before implementing anything

[OVERVIEW]

* Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait.
* In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its good STAB combination to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Breloom, Togekiss, and Azumarill.
* Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. (you can also mention how sucker punch helps it vs faster pokemon too)
* Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, and Terrakion, due to its worse Speed and lack of access to a powerful Fighting-type attack.
* Toxicroak is also quite frail overall, which leaves it susceptible to several of the Pokemon that outspeed it, which include Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Pidgeot, and Hydreigon.
* Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past one of the tier's biggest presences in Gliscor, which resists its STAB combination and can outspeed and OHKO it.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch / Ice Punch
item: Darkinium Z / Life Orb
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat.
* Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack, due to its decent damage output and healing capabilities.
* Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise.
* Sucker Punch OHKOes the fast Psychic-types that will try revenge killing Toxicroak, like Latias and Starmie, after a boost. (you could also potentially mention gengar and chandelure here due to their resistance/immunity to stab moves) When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Blackhole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak, most notably Jellicent, Doublade, and Tentacruel. (tentacruel doesn't cripple toxicroak outside of haze because generally its only attacking move is scald and even poison stab does minimal damage. you could fix the wording to avoid implying that all three examples cripple it and also mention using it on pokemon that resist its stab combination)
* Ice Punch is an option for hitting Gliscor, which otherwise sponges hits from Toxicroak, for an OHKO.
* Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot in order to pressure a lot of slower Ghost- and Psychic-types, like Metagross, Jellicent, and Cofagrigus. However, Blackhole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch.

Set Details
========

* Full investment in Attack puts a respectable amount of power behind Toxicroak's attacks, notably allowing it to 2HKO Alomomola with a boosted Gunk Shot.
* Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure.
* Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Tentacruel and Mantine.
* Darkinium Z is used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Pokemon such as Chandelure and Latias.
* Life Orb can also be used, however, if one of Toxicroak's teammates wishes to use a Z-Crystal, as it will still be quite powerful.
* Poisonium Z is another option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Volcanion, though most of these Pokemon are susceptible to heavy damage from +2 Gunk Shot after entry hazard damage anyway. (would also mention how it can be a one-time reliable poison stab move)

Usage Tips
========

* Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Gliscor and Swampert are removed.
* Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, like Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up in the late-game.
* When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and choice-locked Azumarill, due to the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide.
* Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Jellicent, Doublade, and the rare Slowbro. (not sure about saying "the rare" after the unban, and +2 darkinium doesn't ohko while slowbro ohkoes back so this mention isn't great)
* Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think to be able to easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them with after a boost. (rocks are needed for nihilego which is worth a mention to avoid misleading)
* If Ice Punch is being run, Toxicroak should look to catch Gliscor on the switch with the attack, due to the fact that Gliscor can outspeed and OHKO Toxicroak after switching in on either a STAB attack or as Swords Dance is used.

Team Options
========

* Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success, due to the fact that it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Azelf and Mega Aggron can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave, in addition to providing Spikes support. (not too sure about azelf due to azelf only really excelling on hyper offense)
* Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Serperior, Mega Sceptile, and Kyruem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, like Grassium Z Moltres and Ice Beam Mega Absol, are particularly useful due to their ability to lure in and remove the likes of Gliscor, Hippowdon, and Seismitoad. (wouldn't consider ice beam mega absol a lure because its aoa set is the first set on the wip analysis and ice beam is extremely common. in addition, the seismitoad mention could probably be replaced with swampert due to relevance)
* Pokemon capable of taking care of most common revenge killers, like Gliscor and Scizor, can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Nihilego and Choice Scarf Krookodile.
* Fire-types like Entei, Darmanitan, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak quite easily. (consider using more relevant examples of fire-types over entei and even darmanitan; chandelure is prevalent in the tier and is good vs toxicroak due to dry skin. in addition, saying that fire-types weaken the opposing team is vague and doesn't really explain how this helps toxicroak. any particular targets? if not, emphasise the part about luring in bulky waters)
* Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Azumarill, Crawdaunt, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job in the late-game.
(consider adding a point about faster pokemon that can revenge kill fast threats like mega aerodactyl and mega pidgeot; choice scarf latias/hydreigon work well here)

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

* Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative, due to its good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users, like Infernape and Lucario, due to its worse Speed, power, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. (mention its lower special attack here too)
* An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss.
* Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable, enough so that Drain Punch becomes the more preferable option. (mention how drain unch also provides healing so it can do its job more effectively especially on life orb sets)
* Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable move slots and keeps Toxicroak from becoming very offensively threatenly very quickly.
* Stone Edge and Earthquake along either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types respectively. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set.
* Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin, Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor, and Mega Aerodactyl, which can threaten Toxicroak with super effective STAB attacks.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Gliscor is particularly troublesome, as it entirely resists Toxicroak's STAB combination and outspeeds it. Fast offensive Ground-types like Krookodile are also burdensome, due to their ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.

**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Blackhole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO.

**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves (that isn't actually true because amoonguss is neutral to gunk shot. amoonguss should have a mention here as well), and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Blackhole Eclipse. Crobat is particularly troublesome, due to its ability to tank attacks while also outspeeding and OHKOing Toxicroak with Brave Bird.
 

autumn

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C&C Leader
it's been a while (forgive the double post)

Overview
- Remove Venusaur mention
Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks.
- You can also mention how Sucker Punch allows it to somewhat circumvent its Speed tier against Dark-weak foes like Latias.
- Heracross is also worth a mention as Fighting-type competition, which is an extremely good Fighting-type breaker.

Moves
Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack, due to its decent damage output and healing capabilities.
- Give some targets that Drain Punch allows Toxicroak to beat.
- Specify Tentacruel's ability as well as Haze when it comes to crippling Toxicroak.
Metagross, Jellicent, and Cofagrigus.
- Maybe consider some more relevant examples for Knock Off targets; Doublade can work here and Metagross is fine, but the other two aren't extremely common or good. Chandelure is also slower. You can also mention Knock Off's utility due to its ability to remove key items as well as it just being an option to hit Psychic- and Ghost-types.

Set Details
* Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Tentacruel and Mantine.
- These two aren't the best setup targets becaus they can both viably run Haze. Consider other Water-types here.
It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Pokemon such as Chandelure and Latias.
- It is nice to avoid Trick, but I don't see a situation where Latias or Chandelure would use Trick as opposed to attacking. The most common sets on these two are CM sets now, but even on Scarf, they both outspeed and OHKO while unboosted Sucker Punch does not.

Usage Tips

Said threats include Jellicent, Doublade, and the rare Slowbro.
- At this point, Jellicent is far rarer than Slowbro due to its Mega Evolution being in the tier.
- Talk about using its Water immunity to check threats like Suicune if needed instead of just for setting up itself.

Team Options

- Mention the archetypes of teams Toxicroak works best on (preferably first line).
Azelf and Mega Aggron can both reliably set Stealth Rock
- Not really sure about these examples here; Toxicroak doesn't really fit too well of those extremely fast-paced HO teams Azelf leads, and Azelf doesn't actually do much for Toxicroak. Mega Aggron implies more bulky or balanced builds. After adressing the above point, the Stealth Rock examples can fit it more accurately.
* Pokemon capable of taking care of most common revenge killers, like Hippowdon and Scizor, can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Nihilego and Choice Scarf Krookodile.
- Not sure Nihilego is the best Scarf user / revenge killer in general right now but especially not for Toxicroak. The most it can do is a neutral Thunderbolt or /maybe/ Electrium Z but those sets aren't revenge killers. Try Scarf Hydreigon and other faster Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl.
- Add a point about Flying-type checks. Birds are really good right now and Toxicroak hates them, so partners that beat them are great.
- Mention some Pokemon that appreciate Toxicroak's Water immunity and breaking ability as partners too.

Other Options
* Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable, enough so that Drain Punch becomes the more preferable option.
* Cross Chop used alongside Fightinium Z is an option for luring in and KOing several Ground-types, like Swampert and Hippowdon, though Drain Punch's recovery is still often more valuable despite the lack of an accuracy issue.
- These points can be combined because they both refer to the same move. It is a stronger Fighting-type move that can KO Ground-types when used with Fightinium Z.

Checks and Counters
- Add a Flying-types section, preferably near the top.

QC 2/3
 

Eyan

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Under moves, Tentacruel isn't really that great of a Blackhole Eclipse target considering regardless of the circumstances, Toxicroak is gonna beat Tentacruel 1v1 and 9/10 times come out with a +2 boost just by spamming Swords Dance and Gunk Shot. Sucker Punch isn't really used to beat it at all.

Poisonium Z with Gunk Shot is definitely as good or even better than Darkinium Sucker Punch at this point, so add it. Personally, I think Nasty Plot deserves a set on its own but I'm not gonna ask for it to be added without discussion and even then not at this stage in writing. Just push this to GP after checking it's all updated etc.
 
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frostration

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amcheck! use what you'd like, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
add | remove | [comments] | [AC = add comma] | [RC = remove comma]
[OVERVIEW]

Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait. In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its decent typing to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Stakataka, Togekiss, and Primarina, while finding setup opportunities against big presences such as Nihilego and Amoonguss. Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. The former move can also patch up its Toxicroak's vulnerability to several faster Pokemon that may try revenge killing it, like Latias, Starmie, and Gengar. Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Heracross [RC] due to its worse Speed, type coverage, and lack of access to a reliable powerful Fighting-type attack. Toxicroak is also quite frail overall, which leaves it susceptible to several Pokemon that outspeed it, which include like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Pidgeot, and Hydreigon. Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past the tier's common defensive Ground-types, such as Swampert and Hippowdon, which can all tank an attack and OHKO it Toxicroak.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Life Orb / Poisonium Z / Darkinium Z
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat. Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack, due to because of its decent damage output and healing capabilities. Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise. When Poisonium Z activates, it becomes a powerful Acid Downpour, capable of OHKOing most neutral targets while patching up Gunk Shot's imperfect accuracy. Sucker Punch OHKOes OHKOs the fast Psychic-types that will try revenge killing Toxicroak, like Latias and Starmie, after a boost. When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Blackhole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak: [comma --> colon] most notably, [AC] Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Bronzong, and Bronzong Tentacruel, [you talk about Liquid Ooze and Haze so I think you forgot to mention Tentacruel here] which can be particularly annoying due to because of its access to Haze and Liquid Ooze. Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot for its ability to remove items in addition to pressuring and pressure [parallelism] a lot of slower Ghost- and Psychic-types Psychic- and Ghost-types [reorganized to match Pokemon list], like Bronzong, Doublade, and Chandelure. However, Blackhole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch. Ice Punch will provide super effective coverage against Ground-types such as Nidoking and Hippowdon, though it is also often inferior due to its worse overall coverage and inability to OHKO most Ground-types from full HP.

Set Details
========

Full investment in Attack maximizes Toxicroak's offensive presence with a neutral nature. Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure. Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Empoleon and Mega Blastoise. Life Orb puts a respectable amount of power behind all of Toxicroak's attacks, bolstering its sweeping capabilities. Darkinium Z can also be used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting it access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Choice Scarf users such as Chandelure and Latias that may try evading Sucker Punch. The lack of power behind Toxicroak's STAB attacks is worth noting, however. Poisonium Z is another option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue.

Usage Tips
========

Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Hippowdon and Swampert are removed. Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, like Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up in the late-game. When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and choice-locked Choice-locked Primarina, due to because of the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide. Dry Skin should also be used to help Toxicroak check these Pokemon as well, as it may not be able to set up and sweep upon forcing them out but can still prevent them from fulfilling their roles. If running Poisonium Z, Toxicroak should activate it if it needs to secure a crucial KO without worrying about Gunk Shot's accuracy, such as against Volcanion, or if it wants to power through a defensive Pokemon like Alomomola or Suicune in one hit. If it's being run, Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Doublade, Slowbro, and Mega Slowbro.[just saying "Slowbro" implies you mean both] Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think to be able to that they can easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them after a boost.

Team Options
========

Toxicroak fits best on bulky offensive teams as a decent late-game cleaner and check to several hindrances to these archetypes, like Alomomola, Suicune, and Empoleon. Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success, due to the fact that because it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Swampert and Kommo-o can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave [RC] in addition to providing Spikes support. Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Mamoswine, Celebi, and Kyruem Kyurem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, like Grassium Z Moltres and Grass Knot Infernape, are particularly useful due to because of their ability to lure in and remove the likes of Swampert, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior. Pokemon capable of taking care of most common revenge killers, like Hippowdon and Scizor, can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Hydreigon and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Fire-types like Chandelure, Volcanion, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak to KO quite easily. Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Terrakion, Primarina, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job in the late-game. Toxicroak appreciates Flying-type checks like Rhyperior and Mega Manectric on its team due to its vulnerability to popular threats in Moltres and Crobat. Pokemon that appreciate checks to bulky Water-types on their teams, such as the aforementioned Fire-types and Cobalion, partner well with Toxicroak thanks to its Dry Skin ability.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative, due to its because of Toxicroak's good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users, like Infernape and Lucario, due to its worse Speed, power, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. It can also potentially be used with Fightinium Z to more reliably power through Ground-types. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable when it isn't being used as a Z-move, while the lack of recovery forgoing Drain Punch will be met with can prove troublesome. An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss. Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable move slots and keeps Toxicroak from quickly becoming very offensively threatenly threatening very quickly. Stone Edge and Earthquake along with either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types respectively. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set. Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin, Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor, and Krookodile, which can lower Toxicroak's attack to tank a Sucker Punch even more comfortably while KOing it with Earthquake.

**Flying-types**: The likes of Moltres and Mega Pidgeot can easily tank a boosted Sucker Punch while OHKOing Toxicroak in return with their powerful Flying-type STAB attacks. Crobat is especially annoying, as it can easily come in on Toxicroak's STAB moves, tanks a Sucker Punch, and OHKOs it with STAB Brave Bird.

**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves [RC] and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking speed Speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Blackhole Eclipse. The aforementioned Crobat is also often a particularly troubling opponent.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Krookodile can be particularly burdensome, due to because of its ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.

**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Blackhole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x super effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO. Necrozma is especially annoying for Toxicroak to deal with if healthy, as it tanks a boosted Sucker Punch from full HP.
 

autumn

only i will remain
is a Site Content Manageris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
C&C Leader
GP 1/2
[OVERVIEW]

Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait. In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its decent typing to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Stakataka, Togekiss, and Primarina, (RC) while finding setup opportunities against big presences such as Nihilego and Amoonguss. Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. The former move can also patch up its Toxicroak's vulnerability to several faster Pokemon that may try revenge killing it, (RC) like Latias, Starmie, and Gengar. Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Heracross [RC] due to its worse Speed, poorer type coverage, and lack of access to a reliable powerful Fighting-type attack. Toxicroak is also quite frail overall, which leaves it susceptible to several Pokemon that outspeed it, (RC) which include like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Pidgeot, and Hydreigon. Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past the tier's common defensive Ground-types, such as Swampert and Hippowdon, which can all tank an attack and OHKO it Toxicroak.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Life Orb / Poisonium Z / Darkinium Z
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat. Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack, due to because of (optional) its decent damage output and healing capabilities. Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise. When Poisonium Z activates, it becomes a powerful Acid Downpour, capable of OHKOing most neutral targets while patching up Gunk Shot's imperfect accuracy. Sucker Punch OHKOes OHKOs (keep original) the fast Psychic-types like Latias and Starmie that will try revenge killing Toxicroak, like Latias and Starmie, after a boost. When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Black (space) Hole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak: [comma --> colon] (comma is fine as is) most notably, [AC] Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Bronzong, and Bronzong Tentacruel, [you talk about Liquid Ooze and Haze so I think you forgot to mention Tentacruel here] which can be particularly annoying due to because of (optional) its access to Haze and Liquid Ooze. Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot for its ability to remove items in addition to pressuring and pressure [parallelism] a lot of slower Ghost- and Psychic-types Psychic- and Ghost-types [reorganized to match Pokemon list], like Bronzong, Doublade, and Chandelure. However, Black Hole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch. Ice Punch will provide super effective coverage against Ground-types such as Nidoking and Hippowdon, though it is also often inferior due to its worse overall coverage and inability to OHKO most Ground-types from full HP.

Set Details
========

Full investment in Attack maximizes Toxicroak's offensive presence with a neutral nature. Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure. Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Empoleon and Mega Blastoise. Life Orb puts a respectable amount of power behind all of Toxicroak's attacks, bolstering its sweeping capabilities. Poisonium Z is an option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue. Darkinium Z can also be used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting it access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Choice Scarf users such as Chandelure and Latias that may try evading Sucker Punch. The lack of power behind Toxicroak's STAB attacks is worth noting, however. Poisonium Z is another option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue.

Usage Tips
========

Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Hippowdon and Swampert are removed. Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, such as like Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up in the late-game. When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and choice-locked Choice-locked Primarina, due to because of the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide. Dry Skin should also be used to helps (you don't really /use/ dry skin like that) Toxicroak check these Pokemon as well, as it may not be able to set up and sweep upon forcing them out but can still prevent them from fulfilling their roles. If running Poisonium Z, Toxicroak should activate it if it needs to secure a crucial KO without worrying about Gunk Shot's accuracy, such as against Volcanion, or if it wants to power through a defensive Pokemon like Alomomola or Suicune in one hit. If it's being run, Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Doublade, Slowbro, and Mega Slowbro.[just saying "Slowbro" implies you mean both] Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think to be able to that they can easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them after a boost. (here you call nihi something that revenge kills it then in overview you say croak sets up on it so pick one)

Team Options
========

Toxicroak fits best on bulky offensive teams as a decent late-game cleaner and check to several hindrances to these archetypes, like such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Empoleon. Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success, due to the fact that because it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Swampert and Kommo-o can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave [RC] in addition to providing Spikes support. Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Mamoswine, Celebi, and Kyruem Kyurem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, like such as Grassium Z Moltres (i have never seen that used ever so i'd remove it imo) and Grass Knot Infernape, are particularly useful due to because of their ability to lure in and remove the likes of Swampert, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior. Pokemon like Hippowdon and Scizor that are capable of taking care of most common revenge killers, like Hippowdon and Scizor, can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Hydreigon and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Fire-types like Chandelure, Volcanion, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak to KO quite easily. Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Terrakion, Primarina, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job in the late-game. Toxicroak appreciates Flying-type checks like Rhyperior and Mega Manectric on its team due to its vulnerability to popular threats in Moltres and Crobat. (idt crobat is a popular threat at all) Pokemon that appreciate checks to bulky Water-types on their teams, such as the aforementioned Fire-types and Cobalion, partner well with Toxicroak thanks to its Dry Skin ability.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative, due to its because of Toxicroak's good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users, like Infernape and Lucario, users in Infernape and Lucario (they're the main 2) due to its worse Speed, lower Special Attack power, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. It can also potentially be used with Fightinium Z to more reliably power through Ground-types. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable when it isn't being used as a Z-Move, while the lack of recovery forgoing Drain Punch will be met with can prove troublesome. An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss. Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable move slots and keeps Toxicroak from quickly becoming very offensively threatenly threatening very quickly. Stone Edge and Earthquake along with either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types respectively. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set. Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin, Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor, and Krookodile, which can lower Toxicroak's Attack to tank a Sucker Punch even more comfortably while KOing it with Earthquake.

**Flying-types**: The likes of Moltres and Mega Pidgeot can easily tank a boosted Sucker Punch while OHKOing Toxicroak in return with their powerful Flying-type STAB attacks. Crobat is especially annoying, as it can easily come in on Toxicroak's STAB moves, tanks a Sucker Punch, and OHKOs it with STAB Brave Bird.

**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves [RC] and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking speed Speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Black Hole Eclipse. The aforementioned Crobat is also often a particularly troubling opponent.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Krookodile can be particularly burdensome, due to because of its ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.

**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Black Hole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x super effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO them beforehand. Necrozma is especially annoying for Toxicroak to deal with if healthy, as it tanks a boosted Sucker Punch from full HP.
 

Lumari

empty spaces
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris an Administrator Alumnus
TFP Leader
add credits too pls

remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 2/2
[OVERVIEW]
Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait. In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its decent typing to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Stakataka, Togekiss, and Primarina, (AC) while finding setup opportunities against big presences such as Amoonguss and Choice-locked Nihilego. Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. The former move can also patch up Toxicroak's vulnerability to several faster Pokemon that may try revenge killing it like Latias, Starmie, and Gengar. Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Heracross due to its worse Speed, poorer type coverage, and lack of access to a reliable powerful Fighting-type attack. Toxicroak is also quite frail, which alongside its common weaknesses leaves it susceptible to several Pokemon that outspeed it like Mega Aerodactyl, Krookodile, and Hydreigon. Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past the tier's common defensive Ground-types, such as Swampert and Hippowdon, which can all tank an attack and OHKO it.


[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Life Orb / Poisonium Z / Darkinium Z
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat. Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack because of its decent damage output and healing capabilities. Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise. When Poisonium Z activates, it becomes a powerful Acid Downpour, capable of OHKOing most neutral targets while patching up Gunk Shot's imperfect accuracy. Sucker Punch OHKOs OHKOes the fast Psychic-types like Latias and Starmie that will try revenge killing Toxicroak after a boost. When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Black Hole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak, most notably Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Bronzong, and Tentacruel, the latter of which can be particularly annoying due to its access to Haze and Liquid Ooze. Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot to remove items and pressure a lot of slower Psychic- and Ghost-types, like Bronzong, Doublade, and Chandelure. However, Black Hole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch. Ice Punch will provide super effective coverage against Ground-types such as Nidoking and Hippowdon, though it is also often inferior due to its worse overall coverage and inability to OHKO most Ground-types from full HP.

Set Details
========

Full investment in Attack maximizes Toxicroak's offensive presence with a neutral nature. Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure. Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Empoleon and Mega Blastoise. Life Orb puts a respectable amount of power behind all of Toxicroak's attacks, bolstering its sweeping capabilities. Poisonium Z is an option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue. Darkinium Z can also be used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting it access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Choice Scarf users such as Chandelure and Latias that may try evading Sucker Punch. The lack of power behind Toxicroak's STAB attacks is worth noting, however.

Usage Tips
========

Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Hippowdon and Swampert are removed. Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, such as Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up late-game. When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and Choice-locked Primarina because of the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide. Dry Skin also helps Toxicroak check these Pokemon as well, as it may not be able to set up and sweep upon forcing them out but can still prevent them from fulfilling their roles. If running Poisonium Z, Toxicroak should activate it if it needs to secure a crucial KO without worrying about Gunk Shot's accuracy, such as against Volcanion, or if it wants to power through a defensive Pokemon like Alomomola or Suicune in one hit. If it's being run, Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Doublade and Slowbro. Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think that they can easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them after a boost.

Team Options
========

Toxicroak fits best on bulky offensive teams as a decent late-game cleaner and check to several hindrances to these archetypes, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Empoleon. Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success because it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Swampert and Kommo-o can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave in addition to providing Spikes support. Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Mamoswine, Celebi, and Kyurem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, such as Hidden Power Grass Rotom-H and Grass Knot Infernape, are particularly useful because of their ability to remove the likes of Swampert, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior. Pokemon like Hippowdon and Scizor that are capable of taking care of most common revenge killers can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Hydreigon and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Fire-types like Chandelure, Volcanion, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak to KO quite easily. Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Terrakion, Primarina, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job late-game. Toxicroak appreciates Flying-type checks like Rhyperior and Mega Manectric on its team due to its vulnerability to popular threats in Moltres and Crobat. Pokemon that appreciate checks to bulky Water-types on their teams, such as the aforementioned Fire-types and Cobalion, partner well with Toxicroak thanks to its Dry Skin ability.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative because of Toxicroak's good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users in Infernape and Lucario due to its worse Speed, lower Special Attack, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. It can also potentially be used with Fightinium Z to more reliably power through Ground-types. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable when it isn't being used as a Z-Move, while the lack of recovery forgoing Drain Punch will be met with can prove troublesome. An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss. Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable move slots moveslots and keeps Toxicroak from quickly becoming very offensively threatening. Stone Edge and Earthquake along with either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set. Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin; (SC) Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor; (SC) and Krookodile, which can lower Toxicroak's Attack to tank a Sucker Punch even more comfortably while KOing it with Earthquake.

**Flying-types**: The likes of Moltres and Mega Pidgeot can easily tank a boosted Sucker Punch while OHKOing Toxicroak in return with their powerful Flying-type STAB attacks. Crobat is especially annoying, as it can easily come in on Toxicroak's STAB moves, tank a Sucker Punch, and OHKO it with STAB Brave Bird.

**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking Speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Black Hole Eclipse. The aforementioned Crobat is also often a particularly troubling opponent.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Krookodile can be particularly burdensome because of its ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.

**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Black Hole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x super effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO them beforehand. Necrozma is especially annoying for Toxicroak to deal with if healthy, as it tanks a boosted Sucker Punch from full HP.
 

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