[Overview]
Salamence is a good defensive option for stall teams due to its immunity to Ground-type attacks, lack of weakness to Ghost-type attacks, and resistance to Fighting- and Bug-type attacks. Unlike its main competition in Lugia, it is not weak to common Ghost-type moves and is not setup fodder for Spikes users, allowing it to threaten common Spikes setters such as Skarmory and Forretress. Intimidate allows Salamence to mitigate damage from many physical attackers in the tier. It is an excellent check to physically-based Salac Berry sweepers, most notably Heracross and Groudon. For a defensive Pokemon, Salamence has a good base Speed, allowing it to outspeed various base 90 Speed Pokemon like Groudon and Kyogre. While it has plenty of great defensive capabilities, it is often inferior to the more common defensive option in Lugia, as Lugia possesses much greater overall stats and supports its teammates with Reflect and Pressure. While being a solid physical wall, its typing leaves it virtually always forced out by special attackers, as Salamence cannot withstand the tier's common and powerful special attacks. This, combined with an inability to fit a phazing move, means that Salamence can easily become setup fodder. Salamence also greatly relies on not being statused, as any sort of status makes Salamence function much less reliably.
[SET]
name: Wish Support
move 1: Flamethrower
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Wish
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Intimidate
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Flamethrower prevents Salamence from becoming setup fodder for Spikes users such as Skarmory and Forretress and will always reliably break the Substitutes of Salac Berry users such as Heracross and Groudon. Wish allows Salamence to keep itself and its teammates healthy. Protect coupled with Wish allows Salamence to keep itself healthy throughout the game and allows it to scout its foe's moves. It also works well with Toxic to wear down common Pokemon without reliable recovery. Toxic effectively puts any Pokemon without reliable recovery on a timer, and those immune to it are threatened by Flamethrower. Slight investment into Speed is an option to allow Salamence to outspeed most Groudon, which prevents Groudon from muscling past Salamence with Rock Slide flinches.
Team Options
========
Salamence's main purposes are to wall common physical attackers in the tier and to keep its teammates healthy with Wish support, so it should only be used on stall-oriented teams. It is best used on sun stall. Blissey is a fantastic partner for Salamence, as both of them possess great defensive synergy that allows them to effectively cover each other's weaknesses. Blissey also provides cleric support to Salamence for it to function at its best. Groudon makes for a great partner thanks to sun reducing Thunder's accuracy to 50% while also powering up Flamethrower, allowing Salamence to more effectively threaten common Spikers and other physical attackers such as Metagross and Heracross.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Dragon Claw could be used over Flamethrower on rain structures if Salamence needs to immediately threaten Deoxys-A and Rayquaza; however, this leaves Salamence vulnerable to becoming setup fodder for Spikes users like Skarmory and Forretress.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Status**: Salamence is very reliant on not being statused to work effectively; thus, cleric support is vital for Salamence to function.
**Special Attackers**: Special attackers will virtually always force out Salamence, as it has underwhelming special bulk and is very weak to common special attacks such as Ice Beam.
**Groudon**: Groudon with Thunder Wave + Rock Slide gives Salamence a hard time, as Salamence cannot check Groudon if it gets flinched.
**Kyogre**: While Kyogre has to be cautious of Toxic, it will effectively threaten out Salamence. The presence of rain reduces Salamence's effectiveness, as Thunder becomes 100% accurate. It also greatly weakens the power of Flamethrower.
**Latios and Latias**: Both Latios and Latias running Refresh fear absolutely nothing from Salamence and effectively threaten it out.
**Deoxys-A**: While Salamence can wall most physically-based Deoxys-A variants, both physical Deoxys-A with a special move and the Petaya Berry set give Salamence a really hard time and are very difficult to outplay.
**Snorlax**: Common Curse variants of Snorlax are consistently able to come in on Salamence, threatening it with paralysis from Body Slam and being able to set up with Curse.
**Deoxys-D**: Fast Taunt Deoxys-D effectively shuts down anything Salamence can do, as it threatens Salamence with status of its own in Toxic and can remove its Leftovers with Knock Off, severely hurting Salamence's sustainability.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/mitana.473973/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/inspirited.127823/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lasen.273339/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/
Salamence is a good defensive option for stall teams due to its immunity to Ground-type attacks, lack of weakness to Ghost-type attacks, and resistance to Fighting- and Bug-type attacks. Unlike its main competition in Lugia, it is not weak to common Ghost-type moves and is not setup fodder for Spikes users, allowing it to threaten common Spikes setters such as Skarmory and Forretress. Intimidate allows Salamence to mitigate damage from many physical attackers in the tier. It is an excellent check to physically-based Salac Berry sweepers, most notably Heracross and Groudon. For a defensive Pokemon, Salamence has a good base Speed, allowing it to outspeed various base 90 Speed Pokemon like Groudon and Kyogre. While it has plenty of great defensive capabilities, it is often inferior to the more common defensive option in Lugia, as Lugia possesses much greater overall stats and supports its teammates with Reflect and Pressure. While being a solid physical wall, its typing leaves it virtually always forced out by special attackers, as Salamence cannot withstand the tier's common and powerful special attacks. This, combined with an inability to fit a phazing move, means that Salamence can easily become setup fodder. Salamence also greatly relies on not being statused, as any sort of status makes Salamence function much less reliably.
[SET]
name: Wish Support
move 1: Flamethrower
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Wish
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Intimidate
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Flamethrower prevents Salamence from becoming setup fodder for Spikes users such as Skarmory and Forretress and will always reliably break the Substitutes of Salac Berry users such as Heracross and Groudon. Wish allows Salamence to keep itself and its teammates healthy. Protect coupled with Wish allows Salamence to keep itself healthy throughout the game and allows it to scout its foe's moves. It also works well with Toxic to wear down common Pokemon without reliable recovery. Toxic effectively puts any Pokemon without reliable recovery on a timer, and those immune to it are threatened by Flamethrower. Slight investment into Speed is an option to allow Salamence to outspeed most Groudon, which prevents Groudon from muscling past Salamence with Rock Slide flinches.
Team Options
========
Salamence's main purposes are to wall common physical attackers in the tier and to keep its teammates healthy with Wish support, so it should only be used on stall-oriented teams. It is best used on sun stall. Blissey is a fantastic partner for Salamence, as both of them possess great defensive synergy that allows them to effectively cover each other's weaknesses. Blissey also provides cleric support to Salamence for it to function at its best. Groudon makes for a great partner thanks to sun reducing Thunder's accuracy to 50% while also powering up Flamethrower, allowing Salamence to more effectively threaten common Spikers and other physical attackers such as Metagross and Heracross.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Dragon Claw could be used over Flamethrower on rain structures if Salamence needs to immediately threaten Deoxys-A and Rayquaza; however, this leaves Salamence vulnerable to becoming setup fodder for Spikes users like Skarmory and Forretress.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Status**: Salamence is very reliant on not being statused to work effectively; thus, cleric support is vital for Salamence to function.
**Special Attackers**: Special attackers will virtually always force out Salamence, as it has underwhelming special bulk and is very weak to common special attacks such as Ice Beam.
**Groudon**: Groudon with Thunder Wave + Rock Slide gives Salamence a hard time, as Salamence cannot check Groudon if it gets flinched.
**Kyogre**: While Kyogre has to be cautious of Toxic, it will effectively threaten out Salamence. The presence of rain reduces Salamence's effectiveness, as Thunder becomes 100% accurate. It also greatly weakens the power of Flamethrower.
**Latios and Latias**: Both Latios and Latias running Refresh fear absolutely nothing from Salamence and effectively threaten it out.
**Deoxys-A**: While Salamence can wall most physically-based Deoxys-A variants, both physical Deoxys-A with a special move and the Petaya Berry set give Salamence a really hard time and are very difficult to outplay.
**Snorlax**: Common Curse variants of Snorlax are consistently able to come in on Salamence, threatening it with paralysis from Body Slam and being able to set up with Curse.
**Deoxys-D**: Fast Taunt Deoxys-D effectively shuts down anything Salamence can do, as it threatens Salamence with status of its own in Toxic and can remove its Leftovers with Knock Off, severely hurting Salamence's sustainability.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/mitana.473973/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/inspirited.127823/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lasen.273339/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/
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