HP: 105
Attack: 140
Defense: 95
Special Attack: 55
Special Defense: 65
Speed: 45
Abilities
Guts: Boosts attack if there is a status problem.
Sheer Force: Attacks gain power, but lose their secondary effect.
Iron Fist (Hidden Ability): Boosts the power of punching moves.
Conkeldurr has been a beast in Overused since its release in Gen 5. It had two common sets last generation. One was a Life Orb set that used all punching moves with either Iron Fist or Sheer Force for the extra damage, depending on preference. The second one was a Bulk Up set that made use of Leftovers and a much-improved Drain Punch, which now restores much more HP than it did in previous generations. So, what has our Fighting construction worker-clown got up its sleeve in Gen 6? It’s no water-squirting flower, I’ll give you that!
Its relatively the same as last generation in terms of movepool usage, but has suffered a little due to the less dominant coverage Fighting-type attacks have this generation, thanks to those Fairy-type rascals floating around the metagame. The truth of the matter is that Conkeldurr isn’t the sweeper people want him to be, and the days of Bulking Up and sweeping with priority Mach Punch are gone. However, he comes in use as an anti-lead as well as a utility Pokémon that hits hard and can survive long enough to make an impact on the game.
Ever Been Punched By A Clown? It’s Hysterical!
Conkeldurr
Hold Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Special Defense
Drain Punch
Mach Punch
Ice Punch/Fire Punch
Knock Off
This set is great in the current Gen 6 Smogon Overused metagame. Guts allows you to stay in on Pokémon that would otherwise scare you away with Will-o-Wisp, namely Rotom-W and Sableye, and hit back more powerfully and, to their horror, unaffected. Assault Vest may seem like a strange choice at first, especially with no investment in Special Defense, but the boost it provides gives it the ability to survive certain moves and OHKO back. For example, it survives Psychic from Sheer Force/Life Orb Landorus and OHKOs back with Ice Punch:
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Conkeldurr: 148-177 (69.8 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Conkeldurr Ice Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 220-260 (133.3 - 157.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
However, it is important to note that there is a chance, depending on how much bulk Landorus has invested in, that it won’t OHKO, but it will leave him low enough that Mach Punch can finish him off.
Your first move is Drain Punch, which is your primary STAB. This move hits hard even when resisted, and gives Conkeldurr the recovery it needs to stick around trade blows for a while. Mach Punch is a priority STAB that gives Conkeldurr the speed it desperately needs to finish off faster prey, or get one last smack when you know it’s going to faint. This move hits hard despite its 40 base power, and can quickly get rid of troublesome Pokémon such as Greninja, Excadrill, and Bisharp.
Whether you want to use Ice Punch and Fire Punch is up to preference - Ice punch gives much better coverage and is the better move on the set, giving you many more OHKOs on a predicted switch in, like the ever-popular Dragon-types that invest the Overused tier. Fire Punch gives you the ability to not be utter setup material for Pinsir and still gives semi-good coverage for the set. Knock Off rounds the set off with its great momentum-building and utility. Thanks to the power boost it was granted in the sixth generation, it is much more viable on the set, and a great tool to cripple your opponent’s Pokémon by ridding them of their items.
I have been using this Conkeldurr for a couple of months now and found out that I lead with it almost exclusively. It counters some of the most popular leads in the metagame. It can tank attacks from Rotom-W and still win the battle with a combination of Drain Punch and Knock Off. It doesn’t need to fear Will-o-Wisp thanks to Guts. It is important to note that this is the most rewarding lead against the washing machine of doom, but also risky because if it is a rare Trick-Scarf set your Conkeldurr is neutered for the rest of the battle. However, if it isn’t, they lose their Rotom, or retreat with Volt Switch and you get a free Knock Off. The other popular leads that Conkeldurr forces out are Tyranitar, Mamoswine, and Greninja, all of which are destroyed by either Mach punch or Drain Punch. You have to use Mach Punch on Greninja - otherwise, Protean will activate and you will lose super effective coverage (though the ninja frog isn’t terribly bulky anyway).
One of the great things about this set is that even if your opponent doesn’t Will-o-Wisp right away because they afraid of Guts, after the first turn when Flame Orb doesn’t activate (they will assume you are running Flame Orb with Guts) they will assume you are using an Iron Fist variant. This is why it is important to keep it alive - to harass the enemy team for as long as possible.
Some Pokémon that are good against Conkeldurr and can cause problems for it are Azumarill and Mega Pinsir. Both of these Pokémon can switch in and resist all of its movepool while setting up on it. As a player, you have to predict this switch-in and switch out to your Azumarill/Pinsir counter, as they can potentially ruin Conkeldurr’s laughing spree.
A great teammate for our pillars-of-doom-wielding clown is physically-defensive Zapdos. Zapdos can switch into either of the two and resist all of their moves (except Azumarill’s Play Rough and and Aqua Jet, which it still survives). Zapdos will almost always force out every Pinsir and Azumarill you encounter due to their fear of Thunderbolt or Discharge. If they don’t, then no worries - you can survive and OHKO them back. Another popular counter form our friend is the legendary twins Latios and Latias, both being able to one shot our fighter with Psyshock. A good teammate that helps with this problem is Aegislash, able to tank their attacks and OHKO back with STAB Shadow Ball.
Conkeldurr is a great Fighting type that can provide your team with a variety of utility and a very powerful punch. If you ever end up facing me on Smogon’s Pokémon Showdown, depending on my team, I like to nickname my Conkeldurr either Bozo or Falcon Punch. Both are hopefully self-evident as to why. A large part of this set’s success is prediction and familiarity with the metagame, so if you are new to competitive Pokémon I suggest a more traditional all-out-attacker set, such as the following:
Seriously, Who Swings Pillars Around?
Conkeldurr
Hold Item: Life Orb
Ability: Guts/Sheer Force/Iron Fist
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Special Defense
Drain Punch
Earthquake
Knock Off/Stone Edge
Ice Punch/Fire Punch/ThunderPunch
This particular set just focuses on doing as much damage as possible before going down. Drain Punch is the primary STAB and allows it to compensate for Life Orb recoil. Earthquake is for standard coverage on common threats, such as Aegislash (to get around King’s Shield) and other Pokémon weak to it. Knock Off is for spectacular utility, while Stone Edge forms the famous, yet shaky, Edge-Quake combo, and allows you to hit Flying types hard. The last slot is up to preference - Ice Punch for the plethora of dragons that plague Overused (i.e. Garchomp, Dragonite), Fire Punch is for Skarmory, Scizor, and other Steel types, and ThunderPunch is almost exclusively for Gyarados (thought it does hit Azumarill and Pinsir, both common counters, super-effectively). You can choose to run any of its available abilities, but Guts is recommended in order to absorb status and boost your attacking power.
The bulletproof-vested clown Conkeldurr, if mastered, can be extremely rewarding, and can outright win games for you because your opponent just loses too much off of him. Even counters can turn into OHKOs if not executed properly. An example is if my opponent leads with Rotom-W, it Volt Switches into Latios, and I use Knock Off. Latios is now gone, along with a central figure in my opponent’s offensive presence. One down and five to go.
Another common situation I find myself in is when an opponent’s Azumarill switches into a Knock Off. It takes little damage but loses its Sitrus Berry or Choice Band. I immediately switch into Zapdos. It has either done one of two things: Belly Drummed anyway, or used Play Rough. Belly Drum is actually the best-case scenario, since then it has to use Aqua Jet if it wants to deal any damage at all. Physically-defensive Zapdos can tank the hit and OHKO back with Thunderbolt. An unboosted Play Rough will hurt, bringing a full HP Zapdos to around 30% HP. At this point they will almost always try to finish you off with Aqua Jet, but it’s simply not strong enough, and you wipe out their aqua rabbit with a nuclear-powered Thunderbolt.
Now what did Conkeldurr do in this situation? He didn’t really kill the Azumarill. Shouldn’t all the credit go to Zapdos? Well in the long scheme of the battle, your Conkeldurr just tempted one of their sweepers into essentially committing suicide while staying at full HP, now with one less counter on the opposing team. That puts you in a very advantageous position for the rest of the fight. Conkeldurr excels at wearing down opponents, scaring them away, and creating momentum for your team. Are you looking for Fighting-type coverage, but already have a sweeper or two? Well look, no further - this dynamic clown has what you need.
Signing off for now,
Jayden Silver
No comments:
Post a Comment