RBY OU Omastar

Omastar
Type: Rock / Water
Stats: 70 | 60 | 125 | 115 | 55

Introduction

Omastar is an interesting, niche Pokemon in RBY 1U. Offensively, it has similar flaws to Articuno, but defensively it is a different beast. It resists Normal and Ice, and can 2HKO Tauros and 3HKO Snorlax with Hydro Pump, but is walled very effectively by Chansey as well as Water-types, is weak to Earthquake, and is quite slow, only speed-tieing Exeggutor. Overall, it is hard to justify using it over Lapras or Articuno, but its fairly decent matchup against Tauros (in particular, being able to soak its Hyper Beam very easily, as well as comfortably walling the rare Tauros which lack Earthquake or Thunderbolt) means it certainly shouldn't be passed over entirely.

Sets

Offensive

Omastar
- Hydro Pump
- Blizzard
- Submission / Hyper Beam
- Seismic Toss / Body Slam

Set Details

Hydro Pump is Omastar's STAB option, and unlike Surf, nets a 2HKO on Tauros and 3HKO on Snorlax (presuming it hits). Blizzard is Omastar's strongest move against Exeggutor and Victreebel. Submission does significant damage to Chansey, but has substantial recoil, so Hyper Beam is a slightly weaker alternative, albeit one with a recharge should it fail to KO. Hyper Beam also does slightly more than Hydro Pump to Alakazam. Seismic Toss is Omastar's best move against Water-types such as Starmie, Lapras, Slowbro, and Cloyster, but the damage that it deals against those foes is fairly poor, so Body Slam may be the prefered option in the final slot: it does little meaningful damage, but the ability to spread paralysis onto higher-value targets such as Starmie can be quite valuable in certain matchups.

Other Options

Whilst the listed set is probably Omastar's best set, it does have numerous other options. For example, Rest can be used to stall Snorlax that lack either Earthquake or Amnesia + Blizzard (as a fully boosted Blizzard 3HKOs Omastar). Surf is an alternative STAB option to Hydro Pump, but fails to get the 2HKO on Tauros and 3HKO on Snorlax that Hydro Pump achieves. As Hydro Pump is inaccurate there is some value in running the two moves together, however there is an opportunity cost in giving up a coverage move to do so.

Checks and Counters

Bulky Water-types such as Starmie, Lapras, and Slowbro are excellent answers to Omastar, taking very little from its attacks while dealing significant damage in return. Cloyster also takes Omastar's attacks easily, but can do little in return besides Clamp. Chansey is also a great check, although Submission can really sting. Exeggutor is a soft check, as it only speed ties Omastar, and Omastar's Blizzard does upwards of 40% to it. If Exeggutor carries Mega Drain however then it is a much better check, as Mega Drain 2HKOs Omastar and recovers a significant amount of HP. Electric-types such as Zapdos and Jolteon can act as checks as they can withstand Omastar's strong Hydro Pumps and retaliate with super-effective STAB Thunderbolts. Victreebel outspeeds and OHKOs Omastar with Razor Leaf, but is 2HKOd by Blizzard so has to be careful switching in. Alakazam is a good answer if it's unparalyzed, but if it is paralyzed it is unreliable as Omastar can 3HKO it. Finally, Gengar is a decent check: it typically carries Thunderbolt, which can 2HKO Omastar, although it is 3HKOd by Hydro Pump.

 

Honestly I think this analysis oversells Oma. I think it could be a little more descriptive of its flaws in that Water types are really hard counters, while its EQ weakness means it's only a situational tool vs Tauros and its Electric weakness is also easily exploited.

I'm not a fan of SToss on this set because it leaves you completely helpless against Star. I'd rather run Body Slam

 

Talked with Enigami a bit on the forum and I think Body Slam does deserve a slash, because:

 

It's far from completely helpless really, but only if Star is paralyzed. If star is chipped a tiny bit, Stoss is 3HKOing, and at about 60% or so (like after a tauros bslam), stoss can be a 2HKO. Versus lead star, if your opp decides to take para turn 1 (if you're using lead zam/star), which is pretty common, or sleep (if you lead jynx), then seismic toss will prove far more valuable in that matchup than Body Slam would be.

 

I mean, with Body Slam the goal isn't for Omastar to get through Starmie, the goal is for it to paralyze starmie so that its teammates have an easier time of beating it.

 

Slowbro hardcounters barring freeze. Victreebel outspeeds and OHKOs, though it doesn't like Blizzard. Zam's a fairly-solid answer as long as it's unparalysed; Hydro Pump's only a 3HKO and it has bad accuracy and PP. Gengar's a soft check.

Using Submission on Chansey gives it a decent shot at 2HKO with Thunderbolt. Cloyster "can do little in return besides Clamp"... uh, Clamp is Cloyster's best move and Cloy outspeeds Omastar, so that's not really a problem (it's at the very least a hard check).

You mentioned Body Slam both in the set and in OO.

Omastar only walls non-EQ Tauros if it's also non-Tbolt; Tbolt's usually only a 4HKO, but that's still not really "walled".