[OVERVIEW]
Quagsire's ability Unaware coupled with its decent physical bulk, reliable recovery, and fantastic defensive typing allows it to check boosting threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion, and Scizor. Because of Unaware, Quagsire fills a crucial role and fits comfortably on stall teams as a complete stop to most physical boosters. Its typing gives Quagsire key resistances to Fire, Electric, and Rock, allowing it to completely stop certain Electric-types such as Mega Manectric if they lack Grass-type coverage. However, Quagsire's low offensive stats makes it a pretty passive Pokemon, leaving it easily taken advantage of by common metagame threats such as Hydreigon, Facade Mega Altaria, and Celebi. Quagsire's bulk only goes so far, too, as it is unable to consistently wall extremely powerful attackers such as Life Orb Terrakion and Crawdaunt, and its mediocre Special Defense is easily taken advantage of by special attackers such as Latias and Togekiss. Its Grass weakness can also leave it vulnerable to coverage moves from Pokemon Quagsire would otherwise check, such as Infernape and Nihilego.
[SET]
name: Unaware Wall
move 1: Scald
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Recover
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Unaware
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Scald is mainly used to burn physical attackers such as Cobalion, Mega Aerodactyl, and Scizor. Earthquake is a secondary STAB attack that does somewhat decent damage, 2HKOing Tentacruel, Infernape, and Empoleon. Recover is used so that Quagsire can sustain its HP against the Pokemon it is meant to counter while also ensuring that Quagsire can Toxic stall foes. Toxic cripples Pokemon such as Latias and Primarina and allows Quagsire to stall out most physical attackers. Curse is an option to make Quagsire a physically bulky sweeper while also allowing it to wall physical attackers better, but you must evaluate whether dropping the utility of Toxic is worth it.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Defense EVs make Quagsire as physically bulky as possible. Unaware is what gives Quagsire its niche, ignoring boosts and allowing it to counter certain physical attackers, such as Cobalion and Mega Aerodactyl. Leftovers is used for passive recovery, allowing Quagsire to avoid the 2HKO from moves such as Life Orb Scizor's Bug Bite after Stealth Rock, and it also reduces the number of times Quagsire has to use Recover. A Relaxed nature is used because Quagsire cares much more about its damage output than its paltry Speed stat.
Usage Tips
========
Switch Quagsire directly into the Pokemon that it walls, such as Mega Absol and Cobalion, and start throwing out Scalds. Always keep Quagsire healthy with Recover so that it can avoid the 2HKO from the Pokemon it walls, such as Terrakion and Mega Absol. Don't let Quagsire take unnecessary special hits, such as Mega Pidgeot's Hurricane and Latias's Draco Meteor. Quagsire is usually paired with Blissey anyway, which checks these Pokemon. Avoid letting Quagsire get hit with a Toxic, as getting statused severely hinders its ability to wall physical attackers. Avoid getting burned as well, since Quagsire also finds it hard to wall boosting attackers when its Leftovers recovery is being negated, and getting burned only adds to Quagsire's passivity by halving its Attack.
Team Options
========
Blissey is a fantastic partner, as it can use Heal Bell to cure any status ailments such as Toxic poison. Blissey appreciates Quagsire's ability to take on physical boosters as well, while Quagsire appreciates Blissey's ability to wall special attackers. Other special walls such as Mega Altaria, Tentacruel, and Alolan Muk can cover for Quagsire's bad Special Defense stat. Defensive checks to Grass-types such as Latias, Amoonguss, and Togekiss make for good teammates, as they are able to come in on threats to Quagsire like Celebi and Mega Sceptile, although Amoonguss must be wary of Psychic-type STAB moves on Celebi. All of these Pokemon are also pretty specially bulky and can help patch up Quagsire's mediocre Special Defense. Defog and Rapid Spin users are almost mandatory on a team with Quagsire because it is unable to wall physical attackers such as Terrakion, Mega Aerodactyl, and Cobalion with several layers of Spikes and Stealth Rock up or, even worse, with Toxic Spikes on the field, which completely cripple Quagsire. Some good users of Defog and Rapid Spin are Tentacruel, Latias, Mandibuzz, and Togekiss.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Waterfall might seem tempting if you're using Curse, but it lacks the overall utility of Scald's chance to burn, which is crucial because Quagsire would lose Toxic if running Curse. Encore is an option to lock a Pokemon into an undesirable move, such as Stealth Rock, but Quagsire's low Speed makes it hard to use, and it's not worth using over Toxic most of the time.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Celebi, Amoonguss, and Mega Sceptile easily OHKO Quagsire with 4x super effective Grass-type STAB moves. Celebi can take advantage of Quagsire to set up Nasty Plots and heal any Toxic damage with Natural Cure. Other Pokemon that use Grass-type coverage moves like Infernape and Nihilego are capable of luring in and OHKOing Quagsire.
**Special Attackers**: Special attackers such as Mega Pidgeot, Primarina, and Mega Blastoise are capable of taking advantage of Quagsire's lower Special Defense stat. Primarina can OHKO Quagsire with Hydro Pump, while Mega Blastoise and Mega Pidgeot easily 2HKO with Hydro Pump and Hurricane, respectively.
**Status**: Status ailments such as Toxic poison and burn hinder Quagsire's ability as a physical wall, as they not only force Quagsire to use Recover much more often but also make it unable to handle physical attackers. Toxic in particular totally cripples Quagsire by slowly wearing it down over time, while getting burned lowers the damage output of Earthquake, preventing Quagsire from 2HKOing Terrakion and Infernape and making Quagsire even more passive than it already is.
Quagsire's ability Unaware coupled with its decent physical bulk, reliable recovery, and fantastic defensive typing allows it to check boosting threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion, and Scizor. Because of Unaware, Quagsire fills a crucial role and fits comfortably on stall teams as a complete stop to most physical boosters. Its typing gives Quagsire key resistances to Fire, Electric, and Rock, allowing it to completely stop certain Electric-types such as Mega Manectric if they lack Grass-type coverage. However, Quagsire's low offensive stats makes it a pretty passive Pokemon, leaving it easily taken advantage of by common metagame threats such as Hydreigon, Facade Mega Altaria, and Celebi. Quagsire's bulk only goes so far, too, as it is unable to consistently wall extremely powerful attackers such as Life Orb Terrakion and Crawdaunt, and its mediocre Special Defense is easily taken advantage of by special attackers such as Latias and Togekiss. Its Grass weakness can also leave it vulnerable to coverage moves from Pokemon Quagsire would otherwise check, such as Infernape and Nihilego.
[SET]
name: Unaware Wall
move 1: Scald
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Recover
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Unaware
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Scald is mainly used to burn physical attackers such as Cobalion, Mega Aerodactyl, and Scizor. Earthquake is a secondary STAB attack that does somewhat decent damage, 2HKOing Tentacruel, Infernape, and Empoleon. Recover is used so that Quagsire can sustain its HP against the Pokemon it is meant to counter while also ensuring that Quagsire can Toxic stall foes. Toxic cripples Pokemon such as Latias and Primarina and allows Quagsire to stall out most physical attackers. Curse is an option to make Quagsire a physically bulky sweeper while also allowing it to wall physical attackers better, but you must evaluate whether dropping the utility of Toxic is worth it.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Defense EVs make Quagsire as physically bulky as possible. Unaware is what gives Quagsire its niche, ignoring boosts and allowing it to counter certain physical attackers, such as Cobalion and Mega Aerodactyl. Leftovers is used for passive recovery, allowing Quagsire to avoid the 2HKO from moves such as Life Orb Scizor's Bug Bite after Stealth Rock, and it also reduces the number of times Quagsire has to use Recover. A Relaxed nature is used because Quagsire cares much more about its damage output than its paltry Speed stat.
Usage Tips
========
Switch Quagsire directly into the Pokemon that it walls, such as Mega Absol and Cobalion, and start throwing out Scalds. Always keep Quagsire healthy with Recover so that it can avoid the 2HKO from the Pokemon it walls, such as Terrakion and Mega Absol. Don't let Quagsire take unnecessary special hits, such as Mega Pidgeot's Hurricane and Latias's Draco Meteor. Quagsire is usually paired with Blissey anyway, which checks these Pokemon. Avoid letting Quagsire get hit with a Toxic, as getting statused severely hinders its ability to wall physical attackers. Avoid getting burned as well, since Quagsire also finds it hard to wall boosting attackers when its Leftovers recovery is being negated, and getting burned only adds to Quagsire's passivity by halving its Attack.
Team Options
========
Blissey is a fantastic partner, as it can use Heal Bell to cure any status ailments such as Toxic poison. Blissey appreciates Quagsire's ability to take on physical boosters as well, while Quagsire appreciates Blissey's ability to wall special attackers. Other special walls such as Mega Altaria, Tentacruel, and Alolan Muk can cover for Quagsire's bad Special Defense stat. Defensive checks to Grass-types such as Latias, Amoonguss, and Togekiss make for good teammates, as they are able to come in on threats to Quagsire like Celebi and Mega Sceptile, although Amoonguss must be wary of Psychic-type STAB moves on Celebi. All of these Pokemon are also pretty specially bulky and can help patch up Quagsire's mediocre Special Defense. Defog and Rapid Spin users are almost mandatory on a team with Quagsire because it is unable to wall physical attackers such as Terrakion, Mega Aerodactyl, and Cobalion with several layers of Spikes and Stealth Rock up or, even worse, with Toxic Spikes on the field, which completely cripple Quagsire. Some good users of Defog and Rapid Spin are Tentacruel, Latias, Mandibuzz, and Togekiss.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Waterfall might seem tempting if you're using Curse, but it lacks the overall utility of Scald's chance to burn, which is crucial because Quagsire would lose Toxic if running Curse. Encore is an option to lock a Pokemon into an undesirable move, such as Stealth Rock, but Quagsire's low Speed makes it hard to use, and it's not worth using over Toxic most of the time.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Celebi, Amoonguss, and Mega Sceptile easily OHKO Quagsire with 4x super effective Grass-type STAB moves. Celebi can take advantage of Quagsire to set up Nasty Plots and heal any Toxic damage with Natural Cure. Other Pokemon that use Grass-type coverage moves like Infernape and Nihilego are capable of luring in and OHKOing Quagsire.
**Special Attackers**: Special attackers such as Mega Pidgeot, Primarina, and Mega Blastoise are capable of taking advantage of Quagsire's lower Special Defense stat. Primarina can OHKO Quagsire with Hydro Pump, while Mega Blastoise and Mega Pidgeot easily 2HKO with Hydro Pump and Hurricane, respectively.
**Status**: Status ailments such as Toxic poison and burn hinder Quagsire's ability as a physical wall, as they not only force Quagsire to use Recover much more often but also make it unable to handle physical attackers. Toxic in particular totally cripples Quagsire by slowly wearing it down over time, while getting burned lowers the damage output of Earthquake, preventing Quagsire from 2HKOing Terrakion and Infernape and making Quagsire even more passive than it already is.
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