Pokemusings, week 38

Inlast week'sissue of Pokemusings, we went over some great defensive-oriented Pokemon. Some made great defenders due to their stats (Blissey, Skarmory), while others stood strong because of their unique typing (Ludicolo, Spiritomb). Hopefully one or more of these Pokemon have caught your eye and you've picked your stalwart defender. Now we're going to show you some ways to use it! This week, we're going over strategies that are perfect for defensive Pokemon.

Venomous Stalling
The most common defensive strategy we've seen revolves around inflicting a status effect and waiting an enemy out (or forcing a switch). Using a combination of Toxic, Protect, a healing move (Roost, Softboiled, Recover, etc.), and Leftovers can be devastating to opposing teams. You simply inflict the heavy poison with Toxic, use Protect to avoid hits, and heal as needed. Leftovers - the ideal hold item for most defenders - heals your Pokemon a bit every turn, making it even tougher to take out.

There are a few variations that can be used with the strategy above. Personally, we like to start off with Protect. This is more for scouting purposes - to see what kinds of moves our opponent is going to go with. Sun Tzu always said it was important to know the enemy, after all. Will-o-Wisp can be used instead of or to complement with Toxic. Inflicting a burn with Will-o-Wisp is useful when facing Physical sweepers, since it cuts their Attack stat.