Whiscash

So I was looking for pokemon that get both Hydration and Dragon Dance, like Lapras, and to my surprise, found an odd little pokemon that fits the bill. Meet:

Whiscash

Water/Ground
BST:
HP- 110
Att- 78
Def- 73
Sp. Att- 76
Sp. Def- 71
Spd- 60

Abilities:
Oblivious- Grants immunity to infatuation and Captivate.
Anticipation- Alerts the Pokémon of certain dangerous moves.
Hydration- Cures any status ailment that the Pokémon has at the end of each turn when it is raining.

Thanks to LoveHurts for providing move information. Notable moves are bolded.

Level up moves:
Start: Zen Headbutt
Start: Tickle
Start: Mud-Slap
Start: Mud Sport
Start: Water Sport
Lvl 6: Mud Sport
Lvl 6: Water Sport
Lvl 10: Water Gun
Lvl 14: Mud Bomb
Lvl 18: Amnesia
Lvl 22: Water Pulse
Lvl 26: Magnitude
Lvl 33: Rest
Lvl 33: Snore
Lvl 39: Aqua Tail
Lvl 45: Earthquake
Lvl 51: Future Sight
Lvl 57: Fissure


TM/HM Moves
TM06: Toxic
TM07: Hail
TM10: Hidden Power
TM13: Ice Beam
TM14: Blizzard
TM15: Hyper Beam
TM17: Protect
TM18: Rain Dance
TM21: Frustration
TM26: Earthquake
TM27: Return
TM32: Double Team
TM37: Sandstorm
TM39: Rock Tomb
TM42: Facade
TM44: Rest
TM45: Attract
TM48: Cannon
TM55: Boiling Water
TM68: Giga Impact
TM71: Stone Edge
TM78: Smooth Over
TM80: Rock Slide
TM87: Swagger
TM90: Substitute
TM94: Rock Smash
HM03: Surf
HM04: Strength
HM05: Waterfall
HM06: Dive


Egg Moves
Dragon Dance, Earth Power, Flail, Hydro Pump, Mud Shot, Muddy Water, Spark, Take Down, Thrash, Whirlpool



Pros:
  • Hydration from the Dream World makes him immune to all status
  • With Rest and Hydration, it can heal to full HP and wake up instantly at the end of the turn
  • Excellent HP stat of 110
  • Gets Dragon Dance despite being a blue fish
  • Water/Ground is a really good defensive typing, resisting Poison, Rock, Steel and Fire, and is immune to Electric

Cons:
  • Has mediocre defenses
  • Slow and a passable attack, although Dragon Dance helps to remedy them
  • 4x weak to grass, but it doesn't take too much from grass knot because it is light
  • Pretty useless outside of rain
  • Only being able to use 2 attacking moves seriously limits its coverage

Why a fish that looks nothing like a dragon gets dragon dance is beyond me, I can assure you that Hydration+Rest is broken. You can easily get in a few Dragon Dances, then heal to full health, and sweep off a now high speed and attack stat.

Sets:
Invincible dragon fish
Whiscash @ Leftovers/Life Orb
Hydration
252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant/Jolly
- Dragon Dance
- Rest
- Earthquake/Stone Edge/Zen Headbutt/Spark
- Waterfall
Assuming you have Rain up, this set works similar to the Lapras set. You switch in on one of its resistances, then Dragon Dance. Now that you are faster than the opponent, you can Rest to 100% HP, and wake up thanks to Hydration immediately. Waterfall does really good damage to anything that doesn't resist it, and is there for STAB and to abuse the Rain. 80 BP doesn't seem like much, but when you factor in STAB and rain, it becomes a move that has 120 BPx 1.5 in the rain, and that coming off of 560 attack (assuming you got in 2 dragon dances, it even isn't that hard to get 4 dances) 1-2HKOs a majority of the game. But this is pokemon, and we have those meddlesome resistances. That's what your other move for. The obvious choice here is Earthquake, as it gets STAB and hits 5 types super effectively. However, then you can't really do anything to Dragon/Flying pokemon and Gyarados. Stone Edge is an option if you want to hit those pokemon super effectively, Zen Headbutt is a good move, and Spark is if you really hate Gyarados. Leftovers helps you survive, while Life Orb means you can do more damage. Your decision.

Counters? Well, if you use Earthquake, there's Dragon/Flyers, Gyarados, and those pesky Grass types that kill Whiscash so easily. One of its problems in Gen IV was being burned, but Hydration solves that problem. Whiscash doesn't fear Grass Knot too much, as it is light and only takes 40 BP from it (after weakness 160). It also has trouble against bulky waters, but I suppose you can Dragon Dance until you can KO them easily. Remember, if it can't beat something, just stall with Hydration+Rest and Dragon dance.

EDIT: Milotic can come in on a waterfall and dragon tail it out, but I'm not sure it could survive an Earthquake. About those pesky Grass types, he really hates 2 the most: Nattorei and Jaroda. Nattorei doesn't take much from both earthquake and waterfall, and I'm pretty sure Power Whip is a 1HKO. Jaroda can hit Whiscash so hard with Leaf Storm that it becomes part ghost type, and then sweep the rest of your water typed team, gaining +2 sp att every storm. You cannot counter both of these at the same time (stone edge for jaroda and earthquake for nattorei), so hopefully Whiscash has 6 dragon dances before meeting one of them.

At first, Lapras seems to be a much better Dragon Dancer+ HydraRest user, because of Lapras' superior stats (every stat is equal or better than Whiscash's). However, Lapras has a pretty barren physical movepool, while Whiscash has a decent one. Lapras only gets Water, Ice, and Normal to work with, while Whiscash can surprise the opponent with moves like Spark (how does it get that again?). Also, Water/Ice is a far worse typing than Water/Ground, and Whiscash has only one type to be wary of instead of 4. Plus it resists the ever present stealth rock. I haven't used Whiscash on Pokemon Online yet, but I am confident that the set I provided are somewhat good, because of my experience with Dragon Dance+HydraRest Lapras.

This is my first pokemon analysis, so don't judge me too harshly. Criticism and suggestions are welcome.
 
I've used both Lapras and Whiscash on PO, and I've had much better success with Whiscash at Dragon Dancing. Lapras' weakness to Stealth Rock and multiple weaknesses make it hard to bring in, and even once it's set-up it's walled by Burungeru and Nattorei.

I ran Earthquake in the 3rd slot for Whiscash, and it worked out very well. Stone edge looks promising though, as Gyarados (as you mentioned) can come in and Dragon Tail you out.

Great analysis, by the way.
 
A good idea but with all the heavy hitters around 110/73/71 is fairly average. Its coverage isn't the best, its secondary attack really doesn't hit that hard at all.

IMO you are probably a lot better off with a bulky DD set that still hits hard but lets it get boosts up. It pairs a lot better with Hydration Rest.
 

The.Lost.Hylian

Conquer your Shadow
is a Researcher Alumnus
The only Grass attacks you'll really worry about are Giga Drain and Jarooda's Leaf Storm. That stupid snake is such a dick. +2 boost with the 140 BP... Grass Knot isn't as common anymore because of Jarooda and the Giga Drain boost.
 
A good idea but with all the heavy hitters around 110/73/71 is fairly average. Its coverage isn't the best, its secondary attack really doesn't hit that hard at all.

IMO you are probably a lot better off with a bulky DD set that still hits hard but lets it get boosts up. It pairs a lot better with Hydration Rest.
I was thinking of better EV spreads to take advantage of his decent bulk.

I've used both Lapras and Whiscash on PO, and I've had much better success with Whiscash at Dragon Dancing. Lapras' weakness to Stealth Rock and multiple weaknesses make it hard to bring in, and even once it's set-up it's walled by Burungeru and Nattorei.

I ran Earthquake in the 3rd slot for Whiscash, and it worked out very well. Stone edge looks promising though, as Gyarados (as you mentioned) can come in and Dragon Tail you out.

Great analysis, by the way.
Thanks for giving me a positive review of my analysis. Puns aside, if Lapras got a better physical movepool it would be OU for sure. Even Blissey has a good physical movepool, despite having 10 base attack, after all...
 

Don Honchkrorleone

Happy Qwilfish the nightmare
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Whishcash isn't bad, but people always prefer Swampert, Gastrodon and Quagsire over him. Hydrastion DD is something that puts him apart them, and is actually good. Won't break the metagame, but makes him an option for walls in RD teams.
 
Typed up all of his moves. I wasn't sure how to format his egg moves, however.

Leveling up:
Start: Zen Headbutt
Start: Tickle
Start: Mud-Slap
Start: Mud Sport
Start: Water Sport
Lvl 6: Mud Sport
Lvl 6: Water Sport
Lvl 10: Water Gun
Lvl 14: Mud Bomb
Lvl 18: Amnesia
Lvl 22: Water Pulse
Lvl 26: Magnitude
Lvl 33: Rest
Lvl 33: Snore
Lvl 39: Aqua Tail
Lvl 45: Earthquake
Lvl 51: Future Sight
Lvl 57: Fissure


By TM/HM
TM06: Toxic
TM07: Hail
TM10: Hidden Power
TM13: Ice Beam
TM14: Blizzard
TM15: Hyper Beam
TM17: Protect
TM18: Rain Dance
TM21: Frustration
TM26: Earthquake
TM27: Return
TM32: Double Team
TM37: Sandstorm
TM39: Rock Tomb
TM42: Facade
TM44: Rest
TM45: Attract
TM48: Cannon
TM55: Boiling Water
TM68: Giga Impact
TM71: Stone Edge
TM78: Smooth Over
TM80: Rock Slide
TM87: Swagger
TM90: Substitute
TM94: Rock Smash
HM03: Surf
HM04: Strength
HM05: Waterfall
HM06: Dive


Egg Moves
Dragon Dance, Earth Power, Flail, Hydro Pump, Mud Shot, Muddy Water, Spark, Take Down, Thrash, Whirlpool
 
Thanks for the info. Theoretically Zen Headbutt could be used to get better neutral coverage- only things like Shiftry resist both. That could be slashed in in place of Earthquake, at least.

In rain dance, it could be cool. The only problem I see are things like Kabutops and Kingdra, which can accomplish similar roles with better movepools.
 
Added its moves, thanks to LoveHurts for the information. Just curious, but how do you get all the moves like that?

Kingdra and Kabutops are perhaps better sweepers, but the key thing is that Whiscash gets Hydration, making it immune to status, and be able to recover to full health without any side effects. Zen Headbutt is a cool move. Spark is really unpredicatable, but the 65 BP doesn't kill anything besides Gyarados.
 
I found his Gen V moves on Bulbapedia.

Status is a big problem for Kingdra and Kabutops, and a layer of Toxic Spikes (or even worse, two) hinders their sweep. Whiscash, with it's resistance to SR and immunity to Electric (which is a necessity on Rain Dance teams) it can come in and set-up a lot easier.

Of course, Kingdra and Kabutops have their initial offensive power, speed, and better offensive typing, but that doesn't mean they totally outclass our adorable catfish.

It's also freakin' adorable, which is always a plus.
 
He seems screwed coverage-wise with just two moves. Waterfall+ EQ is resisted by gyarados and grass types, and waterfall + anything else is resisted by nattorei who can ko back. Perhaps dropping waterfall and running edgequake might be more effective.

Waterfall is only 20% more powerful than EQ in rain, and EQ is 25% more powerful if you opponent realizes what you're doing and switches in a weather changer (150% if it's ninetails).

He seems best as an early sweeper used before the opponent loses their weather changer, since he doesn't lose his boosts out of rain, only a bit of power on one of his moves.
 
Whiscash gets DD, but flygon doesn't? Wth?

Anyway, hydration finally gives our lovable catfish a useful ability, and a bloody good one at that. Whilst I don't think it'll be game changing, it's certainly gonna help him get some popularity.
 
I'm thinking something like this.
Sets:

Bulky Dragon Dance
Whiscash @ Leftovers
Anticipation
252 HP / 252 SpDef / 4 Atk
Adamant
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake/Aqua Tail/Toxic
- Waterfall
 
Whiscash gets DD, but flygon doesn't? Wth?

Anyway, hydration finally gives our lovable catfish a useful ability, and a bloody good one at that. Whilst I don't think it'll be game changing, it's certainly gonna help him get some popularity.
More importantly, Flareon doesn't get Flare Blitz. Neither does Entei. Why Gamefreak hates Fire types with high attack stats I will never know.

Back to Whiscash. After getting it on my team, I swept 5 teams in a row with it, and got to number 117 on the smogon standard rank :toast:. However, then I fought against 5 teams, 2 with Nattorei and 3 with Doryuuzu, and went back to 500 something :pirate:. Apparently my entire team can't touch Nattorei, and everything is too slow to face Doryuuzu :(.
 
More importantly, Flareon doesn't get Flare Blitz. Neither does Entei. Why Gamefreak hates Fire types with high attack stats I will never know.

Back to Whiscash. After getting it on my team, I swept 5 teams in a row with it, and got to number 117 on the smogon standard rank :toast:. However, then I fought against 5 teams, 2 with Nattorei and 3 with Doryuuzu, and went back to 500 something :pirate:. Apparently my entire team can't touch Nattorei, and everything is too slow to face Doryuuzu :(.
Arcanine, Infernape, Blaziken, Rapidash...

Whiscash has always been kinda ehh for me. As a bulky Ground-type that can boost it seems outclassed by Torterra, while as a bulky Water-type it just seems to fall flat compared to the slightly more offensive Feraligatr. Maybe I'm wrong, but is there anything significant about it that allows it to be more than just a niche with Dragon Dance over its other Water/Ground counterparts?
 
The other Water/Ground type pokemon aren't used as offensively, with Quagsire stopping set-up pokemon with Unaware, Gastrodon absorbing Water-type attacks, and Swampert setting up rocks and roaring away threats.

That being said, Water/Ground only has one weakness, which is why it's very good defensively. Like I said before, it's typing and ability allows it to come in a lot easier and start boosting.
 

BurningMan

fueled by beer
Thanks for the info. Theoretically Zen Headbutt could be used to get better neutral coverage- only things like Shiftry resist both.
Yeah and stuff like nattorei, empoleon, celebi, sazandora, Starmie and the latis :P
Really how could you come up with shiftry first xD

on topic, well Hydrarest and DD is what sets him apart from the other Water/Ground types that would all be much better otherwise.
Spark is IMO completly useless outside of Gyarados (and i think it wouldn`t even OHKO more defensive versions without 2 DDs). EQ is what he should use almost every time a Waterfall in the Rain and a Stabbed EQ hit resists often harder than neutral "coverage options" and he propably won`t play in the same league as the flying Dragons and gyara anyway so grass types are his only real problems (that and the fact that politoed is likely to be OU wich means no infinite rain :/ ).
 
Yeah and stuff like nattorei, empoleon, celebi, sazandora, Starmie and the latis :P
Really how could you come up with shiftry first xD

on topic, well Hydrarest and DD is what sets him apart from the other Water/Ground types that would all be much better otherwise.
Spark is IMO completly useless outside of Gyarados (and i think it wouldn`t even OHKO more defensive versions without 2 DDs). EQ is what he should use almost every time a Waterfall in the Rain and a Stabbed EQ hit resists often harder than neutral "coverage options" and he propably won`t play in the same league as the flying Dragons and gyara anyway so grass types are his only real problems (that and the fact that politoed is likely to be OU wich means no infinite rain :/ ).

Hahaha I was tired. I have no idea where I got Shiftry and not stuff like Nattorei...

Agreed in that STAB EQ is too good to pass up, and Waterfall under the rain is still base 90 when resisted (180 factoring in STAB and rain). Not too shabby I suppose.
 
The thing is, Dragon Dance is absolutely necessary on Whiscash, with very low Atk and Spd stats. It's his only way to compete with sweepers like Kingdra and Feraligator, who otherwise outclass him with their own DD sets.
 
Just give up on DD and run Ice Beam instead. Nobody is letting this thing setup and with only 2 moves it won't be sweeping anytime soon.
Waterfall
Return
Rest
Dragon Dance

Coverage resisted by 2 non-uber pokemon.

Earthquake
Stone Edge
Rest
Dragon Dance

Coverage resisted by 5 non-uber pokemon, iirc. (Breloom, Birijon, Claydol, Bronzong, Torterra?)

Conclusion: Whiscash would greatly benefit from 5 moveslots, but can make do with four.

EDIT: Oops, forgot about Burungeru
 

BurningMan

fueled by beer
Waterfall
Return
Rest
Dragon Dance

Coverage resisted by 2 non-uber pokemon.
its 3 Pokemon Empoleon, Nattorei and Burungeru (who is completly immune with Water Absorb).

But i still think this is his best shot for "sweeping" in OU Water/Normal Coverage is Good and Return got a high Base Power.
 
Assuming by uber you mean resh/zek + last gen's ubers. . .
Water/normal gets walled by empoleon, shedinja, nattorei, and burungeru. So four resists, and one of them completely immune to your entire moveset.
Due to the wild popularity of both nattorei and burungeru (and together, a lot of the time), water/normal doesn't cut it at all for coverage.
Since you're in rain for hydrarest anyways, waterfall is sort of an obvious choice. Spark lets you hit bulky waters but leaves you walled by grass/dragon and has low base power. Stone edge is walled by sort of a random scattering of stuff and has low accuracy. Return gets owned by nattorei/burungeru. I'd say earthquake is his best coverage option; it's still walled by grass and a lot of dragons but it offers fairly powerful stab and hits both nattorei and burungeru neutrally.
 
Assuming by uber you mean resh/zek + last gen's ubers. . .
Water/normal gets walled by empoleon, shedinja, nattorei, and burungeru. So four resists, and one of them completely immune to your entire moveset.
Due to the wild popularity of both nattorei and burungeru (and together, a lot of the time), water/normal doesn't cut it at all for coverage.
Since you're in rain for hydrarest anyways, waterfall is sort of an obvious choice. Spark lets you hit bulky waters but leaves you walled by grass/dragon and has low base power. Stone edge is walled by sort of a random scattering of stuff and has low accuracy. Return gets owned by nattorei/burungeru. I'd say earthquake is his best coverage option; it's still walled by grass and a lot of dragons but it offers fairly powerful stab and hits both nattorei and burungeru neutrally.
Facepalm

I take it back, run Waterfall/Stone Edge. Only resisted by Nattorei, Empoleon, and Quaggy and Gastrodon, who you won't be seeing. Unless Quaggy's got Unaware. Then it won't resist Waterfall.

And you won't be able to do jack shit against it anyway.
 
Honestly this is my favorite Water/Ground nostalgic wise. Anyway, a bulky DD HydraRest seems a good set to make use of his bulk and hydration to attempt a 'sweep'.
 
I did some more testing, and I'm going to have to agree with Rayquaza. Waterfall and another attacking move doesn't have good coverage. I suppose you could forego Rest and run QuakeEdge and Aqua Tail to hit way more things, but I guess that would get rid of its bulk. Gen V brought Whiscash Hydration and Drizzle Politoed, but also kills him with Burungeru and Nattorei.
 

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