Slowbro
Type: Water / Psychic
Stats: 95 | 75 | 110 | 80 | 30
Introduction
Slowbro is a fairly common Pokémon in the RBY OU tier. It has great bulk, a useful typing, and an incredible boosting move in Amnesia. Slowbro's low Speed and weaknesses to Grass and Electric are exploitable, but in spite of this it has many positive traits. Slowbro often forces the opponent to explode, sacrificing their Pokémon to KO Slowbro or allow it to be revenge killed by Tauros. Even though Slowbro has shortcomings as a sweeper, it is one of the best paralysis-spreaders, as it is able to lure in Pokemon such as Starmie and Chansey and paralyze them, assisting its teammates in breaking through the opponent's team.
Sets
Tobybro
Slowbro
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Thunder Wave
- Surf / Psychic
Set Details
This set is named after Toby Martin, the founder of Azure Heights, who originally created the set as a 'counter' to Mewtwo, having used Surf as its primary attack. Amnesia boosts Slowbro's Special by 2 stages, making it threatening very quickly. Rest provides Slowbro with a form of recovery, and Thunder Wave allows Slowbro to cripple foes and support the team by spreading status. Psychic and Surf are Slowbro's two attacking options. While Psychic is resisted by Alakazam and Starmie, it is the best move to break through the latter and Chansey. This is due in particular to a peculiar RBY mechanic described here, which allows Slowbro to break through and avoid being stalled by the opposing Pokémon. Amnesia is affected by the mechanic too, but since it can only be used to lower the opponent's speed when Slowbro is not yet fully boosted, that limits the amount that Slowbro can reduce the opponent's Speed with Amnesia alone. Surf is notable for allowing Slowbro to beat Rhydon 1v1, as it's 3HKOed by Rhydon's Earthquake, and Slowbro cannot OHKO Rhydon with +2 Psychic or 2HKO it at +0, whereas Surf OHKOs it, even when unboosted. Also, Surf has a chance of OHKOing Alakazam when Slowbro is fully boosted, and gives it a higher chance of OHKOing Tauros at +4 (~69%) than Psychic offers (~36%).
Slow teammates, such as Golem, Rhydon, Victreebel, and Snorlax, all benefit from Slowbro's paralysis support. Gengar makes for a good choice of a lead to pair Slowbro with to prevent Victreebel steam-rolling over the team, particularly if your team has both Slowbro and Golem or Rhydon.
Other Options
Withdraw is a rarely-seen option, most infamously run by magic9mushroom over Thunder Wave. m9mbro requires being babied rather than supporting the team, and should be treated as only a sweeper rather than also a team-supporter. This set makes it invulnerable, bar critical hits,, however it is difficult to successfully set up. It wins PP wars between itself and other Slowbros too, albeit those don't happen especially often. Ice Beam is an option to hit Exeggutor, and to win in Slowbro vs Slowbro matchups due to Ice Beam's freeze chance, but it is otherwise an inferior option; however, it does see occasional use in tournament match-ups versus certain opponents whose teams are more vulnerable to it. Reflect is similar to Withdraw, but boosts its defense more after a single use. Because it has less PP than Withdraw, it doesn't give it an advantage versus other Slowbro, and of course Withdraw enables it to boost its Defense by several stages whilst Reflect can only provide a single boost, doubling Slowbro's Defense. Counter is a mediocre option, as, unlike the most infamous of Counter users, Chansey and Snorlax, it has merely decent HP and good Defense, rather than a huge HP stat. However, even frailer Pokémon such as Gengar have been seen making use of Counter and its peculiar properties in certain situations. So, while situational, Counter could be potentially useful in some obscure situations. Substitute can help prevent against critical hits once set up, but is an expensive use of a moveslot, thus making it a very poor option.
Checks and Counters
Victreebel and the even more rarely-seen Venusaur are the most notorious answers to Slowbro, with Razor Leaf always resulting in a critical hit and 2HKOing Slowbro. They are somewhat afraid of Slowbro's Psychic, which can OHKO after an Amnesia boost, but they can handle Surf easily, and can force Slowbro out after it uses rest. Otherwise, using Pokemon with Electric-type attacks help to prevent Slowbro setting up for free, such as Thunderbolt Starmie, Lapras, and Chansey. Pokemon that can explode or 3HKO it such as Snorlax, Exeggutor, Golem, and Rhydon, which can 3HKO Slowbro with Earthquake, can also act as checks. The rarely-seen Leech Seed Exeggutor is a great check to Slowbro and makes stalling it out generally easier alongside Pokemon such as Starmie and Chansey. Jolteon and Zapdos in particular make it hard for Slowbro to set up; their high critical hit rates and STAB Electric-type attacks make sure of that. However, they do take a lot of damage from Slowbro's attacks, and Slowbro is sometimes paired with Rhydon or Golem, limiting their usefulness against Slowbro to forcing it out (which is certainly still useful). Persian can try to critical hit through it when it's asleep with Thunderbolt combined with its high speed and hence high critical hit rate, but it is not reliable. Finally, although it is virtually never seen, it is worth being aware that Alakazam with Kinesis can cause Slowbro problems - although Surf Slowbro is likely to be able to break through it, it's unlikely to be able to sweep afterwards, whilst Psychic Slowbro might not even be able to break the Alakazam.
Type: Water / Psychic
Stats: 95 | 75 | 110 | 80 | 30
Introduction
Slowbro is a fairly common Pokémon in the RBY OU tier. It has great bulk, a useful typing, and an incredible boosting move in Amnesia. Slowbro's low Speed and weaknesses to Grass and Electric are exploitable, but in spite of this it has many positive traits. Slowbro often forces the opponent to explode, sacrificing their Pokémon to KO Slowbro or allow it to be revenge killed by Tauros. Even though Slowbro has shortcomings as a sweeper, it is one of the best paralysis-spreaders, as it is able to lure in Pokemon such as Starmie and Chansey and paralyze them, assisting its teammates in breaking through the opponent's team.
Sets
Tobybro
Slowbro
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Thunder Wave
- Surf / Psychic
Set Details
This set is named after Toby Martin, the founder of Azure Heights, who originally created the set as a 'counter' to Mewtwo, having used Surf as its primary attack. Amnesia boosts Slowbro's Special by 2 stages, making it threatening very quickly. Rest provides Slowbro with a form of recovery, and Thunder Wave allows Slowbro to cripple foes and support the team by spreading status. Psychic and Surf are Slowbro's two attacking options. While Psychic is resisted by Alakazam and Starmie, it is the best move to break through the latter and Chansey. This is due in particular to a peculiar RBY mechanic described here, which allows Slowbro to break through and avoid being stalled by the opposing Pokémon. Amnesia is affected by the mechanic too, but since it can only be used to lower the opponent's speed when Slowbro is not yet fully boosted, that limits the amount that Slowbro can reduce the opponent's Speed with Amnesia alone. Surf is notable for allowing Slowbro to beat Rhydon 1v1, as it's 3HKOed by Rhydon's Earthquake, and Slowbro cannot OHKO Rhydon with +2 Psychic or 2HKO it at +0, whereas Surf OHKOs it, even when unboosted. Also, Surf has a chance of OHKOing Alakazam when Slowbro is fully boosted, and gives it a higher chance of OHKOing Tauros at +4 (~69%) than Psychic offers (~36%).
Slow teammates, such as Golem, Rhydon, Victreebel, and Snorlax, all benefit from Slowbro's paralysis support. Gengar makes for a good choice of a lead to pair Slowbro with to prevent Victreebel steam-rolling over the team, particularly if your team has both Slowbro and Golem or Rhydon.
Other Options
Withdraw is a rarely-seen option, most infamously run by magic9mushroom over Thunder Wave. m9mbro requires being babied rather than supporting the team, and should be treated as only a sweeper rather than also a team-supporter. This set makes it invulnerable, bar critical hits,, however it is difficult to successfully set up. It wins PP wars between itself and other Slowbros too, albeit those don't happen especially often. Ice Beam is an option to hit Exeggutor, and to win in Slowbro vs Slowbro matchups due to Ice Beam's freeze chance, but it is otherwise an inferior option; however, it does see occasional use in tournament match-ups versus certain opponents whose teams are more vulnerable to it. Reflect is similar to Withdraw, but boosts its defense more after a single use. Because it has less PP than Withdraw, it doesn't give it an advantage versus other Slowbro, and of course Withdraw enables it to boost its Defense by several stages whilst Reflect can only provide a single boost, doubling Slowbro's Defense. Counter is a mediocre option, as, unlike the most infamous of Counter users, Chansey and Snorlax, it has merely decent HP and good Defense, rather than a huge HP stat. However, even frailer Pokémon such as Gengar have been seen making use of Counter and its peculiar properties in certain situations. So, while situational, Counter could be potentially useful in some obscure situations. Substitute can help prevent against critical hits once set up, but is an expensive use of a moveslot, thus making it a very poor option.
Checks and Counters
Victreebel and the even more rarely-seen Venusaur are the most notorious answers to Slowbro, with Razor Leaf always resulting in a critical hit and 2HKOing Slowbro. They are somewhat afraid of Slowbro's Psychic, which can OHKO after an Amnesia boost, but they can handle Surf easily, and can force Slowbro out after it uses rest. Otherwise, using Pokemon with Electric-type attacks help to prevent Slowbro setting up for free, such as Thunderbolt Starmie, Lapras, and Chansey. Pokemon that can explode or 3HKO it such as Snorlax, Exeggutor, Golem, and Rhydon, which can 3HKO Slowbro with Earthquake, can also act as checks. The rarely-seen Leech Seed Exeggutor is a great check to Slowbro and makes stalling it out generally easier alongside Pokemon such as Starmie and Chansey. Jolteon and Zapdos in particular make it hard for Slowbro to set up; their high critical hit rates and STAB Electric-type attacks make sure of that. However, they do take a lot of damage from Slowbro's attacks, and Slowbro is sometimes paired with Rhydon or Golem, limiting their usefulness against Slowbro to forcing it out (which is certainly still useful). Persian can try to critical hit through it when it's asleep with Thunderbolt combined with its high speed and hence high critical hit rate, but it is not reliable. Finally, although it is virtually never seen, it is worth being aware that Alakazam with Kinesis can cause Slowbro problems - although Surf Slowbro is likely to be able to break through it, it's unlikely to be able to sweep afterwards, whilst Psychic Slowbro might not even be able to break the Alakazam.
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