[SET]
name: Rain Sweeper Golduck
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Surf
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Encore/Tera Blast/Rain Dance
item: Mystic Water/Heavy-Duty Boots/Life Orb
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Water/Electric
[SET COMMENTS]
With overwhelming power and unmatched speed Golduck under rain becomes an unstoppable special breaker after just a single Nasty Plot. Rather than spending your 4th move slot on Rain Dance it is much more consistent to run manual rain setters alongside Golduck so that your Golduck can create its own opportunities to get off a Nasty Plot. Encore in particular can take advantage of setup sweepers and hazard setters alike creating a free turn for Golduck to use Nasty Plot. Golduck has enough power to do shocking damage being capable of removing common special walls with a single +2 Surf. Pokemon like Tinkatuff, Articuno, and Misdreavus are easily ohko'd while Gogoat goes down in just 2 hits. This means that if you manage create a free turn with Encore and they don't switch immediately to something something like Gogoat, Lumineon or Tera Water Tinkatuff there is absolutely nothing in the tier that can prevent you from completely crippling the enemies team. The only true hard counter is Storm Drain Lumineon which completely shuts you down. Other than Lumineon the only way to slow Golduck down is to literally slow it down. Sticky Web and Thunder Wave both hinder Golduck's ability to safely sweep through teams, and this is where the Heavy Duty Boots and Tera Electric options come in to play. You trade about 15-30% of your potential power but you gain a bit of safety as well as wider coverage to deal with opposing water types if you opt to run tera blast. Lastly, Golduck is still fast enough and strong enough that it isn't a complete sitting duck if you can't manage to get rain up for whatever reason.
Golduck becomes much more consistent when you put care into the team you build around it. Priority is a threat to any super fast but somewhat frail sweeper so Indeedee-F provides support by removing that threat via Psychic Terrain. Indeedee can also pass a healing wish off to your Golduck giving it a second chance at life in the end game. Another important thing you must consider is your rain setters. Who the best Rain Setter's are is up for debate so here are some options. Lumineon with U-turn and Encore and Raichu/Electrode are very good, Prankster setters remove the threat of taunt or being killed before rain goes up, and things like Skuntank, Persian-A, and Perrserker give you solid glue mons that can afford to run Damp Rock over their usual items. The best rain abusers to run alongside Golduck are Basculin-Blue, Beartic, and Hurricane users such as Charizard or QD Masquerain. To lessen the threat of Sticky Web you can choose to save a slot on Masquerain for your own Sticky Web, or run Dartrix for removal. Quaxwell isn't really an option because you're ver likely already running 2 or even 3 water types with Lumineon and Basculin. Golduck is the centralizing power in most games and winning or losing the game depends on whether or not it can be positioned correctly to sink the enemies ship.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/waterfals.636036/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
name: Rain Sweeper Golduck
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Surf
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Encore/Tera Blast/Rain Dance
item: Mystic Water/Heavy-Duty Boots/Life Orb
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Water/Electric
[SET COMMENTS]
With overwhelming power and unmatched speed Golduck under rain becomes an unstoppable special breaker after just a single Nasty Plot. Rather than spending your 4th move slot on Rain Dance it is much more consistent to run manual rain setters alongside Golduck so that your Golduck can create its own opportunities to get off a Nasty Plot. Encore in particular can take advantage of setup sweepers and hazard setters alike creating a free turn for Golduck to use Nasty Plot. Golduck has enough power to do shocking damage being capable of removing common special walls with a single +2 Surf. Pokemon like Tinkatuff, Articuno, and Misdreavus are easily ohko'd while Gogoat goes down in just 2 hits. This means that if you manage create a free turn with Encore and they don't switch immediately to something something like Gogoat, Lumineon or Tera Water Tinkatuff there is absolutely nothing in the tier that can prevent you from completely crippling the enemies team. The only true hard counter is Storm Drain Lumineon which completely shuts you down. Other than Lumineon the only way to slow Golduck down is to literally slow it down. Sticky Web and Thunder Wave both hinder Golduck's ability to safely sweep through teams, and this is where the Heavy Duty Boots and Tera Electric options come in to play. You trade about 15-30% of your potential power but you gain a bit of safety as well as wider coverage to deal with opposing water types if you opt to run tera blast. Lastly, Golduck is still fast enough and strong enough that it isn't a complete sitting duck if you can't manage to get rain up for whatever reason.
Golduck becomes much more consistent when you put care into the team you build around it. Priority is a threat to any super fast but somewhat frail sweeper so Indeedee-F provides support by removing that threat via Psychic Terrain. Indeedee can also pass a healing wish off to your Golduck giving it a second chance at life in the end game. Another important thing you must consider is your rain setters. Who the best Rain Setter's are is up for debate so here are some options. Lumineon with U-turn and Encore and Raichu/Electrode are very good, Prankster setters remove the threat of taunt or being killed before rain goes up, and things like Skuntank, Persian-A, and Perrserker give you solid glue mons that can afford to run Damp Rock over their usual items. The best rain abusers to run alongside Golduck are Basculin-Blue, Beartic, and Hurricane users such as Charizard or QD Masquerain. To lessen the threat of Sticky Web you can choose to save a slot on Masquerain for your own Sticky Web, or run Dartrix for removal. Quaxwell isn't really an option because you're ver likely already running 2 or even 3 water types with Lumineon and Basculin. Golduck is the centralizing power in most games and winning or losing the game depends on whether or not it can be positioned correctly to sink the enemies ship.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/waterfals.636036/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
Last edited:
