[OVERVIEW]
Poliwag's blistering base 90 Speed and access to Hypnosis make it the fastest sleeper in the tier. Once it puts something to sleep, it can turn into a dangerous sweeper thanks to Amnesia. However, Poliwag's awful bulk leaves it completely reliant on landing Hypnosis to find any opportunities to set up, rendering it horribly inconsistent. To make matters worse, Poliwag struggles to OHKO targets weak to its Surf at +2, incentivizing further inconsistency by using Hydro Pump to reach these crucial damage rolls. Its Speed, while great, is still worse than several common threats, such as Fearow, Rapidash, and Arcanine. When choosing a sleeper, teams usually prefer the better offensive and defensive utility from Gastly and Drowzee, and Seaking is usually preferred as a Water-type setup sweeper. Thus, Poliwag should be used with extreme caution due to its reward often being lower than its risk.
[SET]
name: Amnesia Sweeper
move 1: Hypnosis
move 2: Amnesia
move 3: Hydro Pump / Surf
move 4: Psychic
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypnosis lets Poliwag put a foe to sleep and provides an opening to use Amnesia, which lets it 2HKO most foes and avoid a 2HKO from Thunderbolt and other special attacks. The choice between Hydro Pump and Surf is a matter of power versus consistency; Poliwag is already reliant on a very inaccurate move, further complicating this choice. While both Surf and Hydro Pump 2HKO most neutral targets, like Pinsir, some threats that are 2HKOed by a +2 Hydro Pump, such as Machamp and Porygon, either avoid or have extremely low odds to be 2HKOed by a +2 Surf. Additionally, a +2 Surf is incapable of OHKOing Nidoqueen and Arcanine and has extremely low odds of OHKOing Rapidash, while +2 Hydro Pump has high odds to OHKO the former pair and will always OHKO the latter. Psychic is Poliwag's best attack against Water-types, like Staryu and Seaking; while Hydro Pump does similar amounts of damage, Psychic's higher accuracy and chance for a Special drop give it solid odds to 2HKO the former and 3HKO the latter at +2. It also helps against Grass-types, as after an Amnesia boost it has decent odds to 2HKO Vileplume, and it will always 2HKO Weepinbell.
Poliwag is an effective lead due to its high Speed and access to a sleep-inducing move, though it can also be used as an endgame cleaner. Fearow, Rapidash, and Arcanine are common threats that Poliwag loses to quite badly; Omanyte is a great partner, as it switches into all three of them. Paralysis is a great way to handle these faster threats, so Poliwag also appreciates support from Thunder Wave users like Dragonair and Porygon. Fearow, Rapidash, and Arcanine themselves make great partners, as they can trade hits with each other and eliminate the status spreaders that give Poliwag trouble.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Blizzard can be used over Psychic, exchanging the ability to break through Water-types and fish for Special drops to instead hit Fearow and Dragonair for super effective damage and reach higher damage ranges against Grass-types. However, even at +2 Blizzard fails to OHKO Fearow and Dragonair, and Fearow is 2HKOed by a +2 Surf anyway.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fearow**: Fearow outspeeds Poliwag and has a 33.3% chance to OHKO it using Hyper Beam, while it can't even OHKO Fearow with +2 Hydro Pump or Blizzard.
**Water-types**: Barring Special drops, Seaking isn't even 3HKOed by +2 Psychic, and it can KO Poliwag with a combination of Double-Edge and Hyper Beam. Staryu struggles to deal damage to a boosted Poliwag without critical hits and is 3HKOed by +2 Psychic, but it can cripple Poliwag with Thunder Wave. While rare, Slowpoke resists all of Poliwag's attacks, can paralyze it with Thunder Wave, and can use it as setup fodder for its own Amnesia. However, given that they're all slower, these threats must watch out for Hypnosis.
**Fire-types**: Arcanine can outspeed and 2HKO Poliwag with Body Slam and Hyper Beam, though a +2 Hydro Pump has a 66.7% chance to OHKO it. While +2 Hydro Pump always OHKOes them, Rapidash and Magmar can also outspeed and KO Poliwag using a combination of Body Slam and Hyper Beam. Besides winning the one-on-one, all of these Fire-types can easily revenge kill a weakened Poliwag. However, these Pokemon struggle to switch in due to their weakness to Water.
**Weepinbell**: Though rare, Weepinbell can easily tank a +2 Psychic or Blizzard and OHKO Poliwag regardless of boosts using Razor Leaf.
**Paralysis**: Poliwag's paltry initial power leaves it vulnerable to paralysis spreaders like Abra, Vileplume, Dragonair, Drowzee, and Porygon once Sleep Clause is in effect. Once paralyzed, it is easily overwhelmed by most foes due to its low bulk.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gangsta-spongebob.535530/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gastlies.540559/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/
Poliwag's blistering base 90 Speed and access to Hypnosis make it the fastest sleeper in the tier. Once it puts something to sleep, it can turn into a dangerous sweeper thanks to Amnesia. However, Poliwag's awful bulk leaves it completely reliant on landing Hypnosis to find any opportunities to set up, rendering it horribly inconsistent. To make matters worse, Poliwag struggles to OHKO targets weak to its Surf at +2, incentivizing further inconsistency by using Hydro Pump to reach these crucial damage rolls. Its Speed, while great, is still worse than several common threats, such as Fearow, Rapidash, and Arcanine. When choosing a sleeper, teams usually prefer the better offensive and defensive utility from Gastly and Drowzee, and Seaking is usually preferred as a Water-type setup sweeper. Thus, Poliwag should be used with extreme caution due to its reward often being lower than its risk.
[SET]
name: Amnesia Sweeper
move 1: Hypnosis
move 2: Amnesia
move 3: Hydro Pump / Surf
move 4: Psychic
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypnosis lets Poliwag put a foe to sleep and provides an opening to use Amnesia, which lets it 2HKO most foes and avoid a 2HKO from Thunderbolt and other special attacks. The choice between Hydro Pump and Surf is a matter of power versus consistency; Poliwag is already reliant on a very inaccurate move, further complicating this choice. While both Surf and Hydro Pump 2HKO most neutral targets, like Pinsir, some threats that are 2HKOed by a +2 Hydro Pump, such as Machamp and Porygon, either avoid or have extremely low odds to be 2HKOed by a +2 Surf. Additionally, a +2 Surf is incapable of OHKOing Nidoqueen and Arcanine and has extremely low odds of OHKOing Rapidash, while +2 Hydro Pump has high odds to OHKO the former pair and will always OHKO the latter. Psychic is Poliwag's best attack against Water-types, like Staryu and Seaking; while Hydro Pump does similar amounts of damage, Psychic's higher accuracy and chance for a Special drop give it solid odds to 2HKO the former and 3HKO the latter at +2. It also helps against Grass-types, as after an Amnesia boost it has decent odds to 2HKO Vileplume, and it will always 2HKO Weepinbell.
Poliwag is an effective lead due to its high Speed and access to a sleep-inducing move, though it can also be used as an endgame cleaner. Fearow, Rapidash, and Arcanine are common threats that Poliwag loses to quite badly; Omanyte is a great partner, as it switches into all three of them. Paralysis is a great way to handle these faster threats, so Poliwag also appreciates support from Thunder Wave users like Dragonair and Porygon. Fearow, Rapidash, and Arcanine themselves make great partners, as they can trade hits with each other and eliminate the status spreaders that give Poliwag trouble.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Blizzard can be used over Psychic, exchanging the ability to break through Water-types and fish for Special drops to instead hit Fearow and Dragonair for super effective damage and reach higher damage ranges against Grass-types. However, even at +2 Blizzard fails to OHKO Fearow and Dragonair, and Fearow is 2HKOed by a +2 Surf anyway.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fearow**: Fearow outspeeds Poliwag and has a 33.3% chance to OHKO it using Hyper Beam, while it can't even OHKO Fearow with +2 Hydro Pump or Blizzard.
**Water-types**: Barring Special drops, Seaking isn't even 3HKOed by +2 Psychic, and it can KO Poliwag with a combination of Double-Edge and Hyper Beam. Staryu struggles to deal damage to a boosted Poliwag without critical hits and is 3HKOed by +2 Psychic, but it can cripple Poliwag with Thunder Wave. While rare, Slowpoke resists all of Poliwag's attacks, can paralyze it with Thunder Wave, and can use it as setup fodder for its own Amnesia. However, given that they're all slower, these threats must watch out for Hypnosis.
**Fire-types**: Arcanine can outspeed and 2HKO Poliwag with Body Slam and Hyper Beam, though a +2 Hydro Pump has a 66.7% chance to OHKO it. While +2 Hydro Pump always OHKOes them, Rapidash and Magmar can also outspeed and KO Poliwag using a combination of Body Slam and Hyper Beam. Besides winning the one-on-one, all of these Fire-types can easily revenge kill a weakened Poliwag. However, these Pokemon struggle to switch in due to their weakness to Water.
**Weepinbell**: Though rare, Weepinbell can easily tank a +2 Psychic or Blizzard and OHKO Poliwag regardless of boosts using Razor Leaf.
**Paralysis**: Poliwag's paltry initial power leaves it vulnerable to paralysis spreaders like Abra, Vileplume, Dragonair, Drowzee, and Porygon once Sleep Clause is in effect. Once paralyzed, it is easily overwhelmed by most foes due to its low bulk.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gangsta-spongebob.535530/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gastlies.540559/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/
Last edited:
