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i am cool
05-10-2009, 09:20 AM
Castform:

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn74/Kanga1000000/351.png

Summary:

Most Used Castform Set:

Rain Dance teams are the most popular weather teams in the Under Used environment; and as such, you’ll most likely encounter the Rain Dance Castform variant more than any other sets.

Usual Counters:

Lanturn defeats him unless he carries Energy Ball or SolarBeam. Hypno can work, and Grumpig is a fairly safe bet too, especially against the Fire and Ice versions.

Types of Teams Castform Is Used In:

Sunny Day Castform will surely be used in a Sunny Day team; and a Rain Dance Castform will surely be used in Rain Dance teams…

In Depth:

http://www.pokesho.com/img_icon_us/i_castform.gifMastering Those Specs@ Choice Specs
Ability: Forecast
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 HP
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)

- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Energy Ball

Castform’s Special Attack stat might not be spectacular, but Castform does get a wide variety of Special Attacking moves, which give him excellent type coverage. Thunderbolt is used to counter Rain Dance teams. Castform will make an excellent Rain Dance team counter, as it transforms into a Water-type Pokémon if Rain is up, resisting almost all Omastar’s moves, unless you count Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Electric. In addition, it resists other bulky Waters’ moves. Furthermore, a Choice Specs Thunderbolt from Castform will obviously OHKO any Water-type Pokémon being used on a Rain team.

Use Flamethrower if you’re up against Hail teams, and it can also prove worthy as it utterly destroys Steelix. Energy Ball is for all those Water / Ground-types. Ice Beam is for that nice OHKO on Altaria; it can also prove annoying to those pesky Grass / Poison-types that inhabit the Under Used metagame.

http://www.pokesho.com/img_icon_us/i_castform.gifRain Abuser@ Damp Rock / Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Forecast
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 HP
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk) Or Timid (+Spe, -Atk)

- Rain Dance / Shadow Ball
- Weather Ball
- Thunder
- Energy Ball / Ice Beam

This is where Castform benefits from weather. Usually, it’s not a good idea to set up Rain Dance with such a frail Pokémon; but since you want to make use of Castform, then you will use him to set up Rain Dance for its teammates and for its own amusement. However, if you decide to set up Rain with another Pokémon, then you can use either Expert Belt or Life Orb as Items, and thus switch Rain Dance for Shadow Ball. Expert Belt can be used if you’re confident that you can score super effective hits on your opponent, or if you just hate Life Orb recoil. Although, if you decide to use Life Orb for the extra power, then you should be careful of the recoil damage.

Weather Ball acts as a STAB 100 Base Power move that will probably OHKO anything that isn’t resistant to it. The choice between Energy Ball and Ice Beam is dependant on your team. If your team can’t handle Altaria well, then you can use Ice Beam. However, if your team has problems with those Water / Ground-types, or bulky Waters in general, then you can use Energy Ball. Thunder is here since it will guarantee an OHKO on almost every Pokémon that has the Water typing.

http://www.pokesho.com/img_icon_us/i_castform.gifSunny Day Abuser@ Heat Rock / Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Forecast
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 HP
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk) Or Timid (+Spe, -Atk)

- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt / Energy Ball

This set carries the same concept as the above build, but with a twist: This time you’re abusing the Sunny Day weather condition. The choice between Fire Blast and Flamethrower is a matter of preference. Flamethrower has a 10% chance to Burn the foe, but has less power than Fire Blast. Fire Blast has a 10% burn rate, much more power than Flamethrower, but has a 15% chance of missing.

http://www.pokesho.com/img_icon_us/i_castform.gifHail Abuser@ Icy Rock / Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Forecast
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 HP
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk) Or Timid (+Spe, -Atk)

- Hail
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt / Energy Ball / Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt / Flamethrower / Energy Ball

Here you’re abusing the Hail weather condition. Blizzard will gain STAB once Castform becomes an Ice-type Pokémon, but sadly Hail weather doesn’t boost the power of Ice moves like Sunny Day does to Fire moves and Rain Dance does to Water attacks. And as such, this set is a little bit less effective than the other weather abusing ones. Blizzard will be used as your main attack and will hurt quite a lot of Pokémon, while both Thunderbolt and Energy Ball / Flamethrower will give you near excellent type coverage.

http://www.pokesho.com/img_icon_us/i_castform.gifDouble status@ Leftovers
Ability: Forecast
EVs: 252 HP / 178 SpD / 80 Def
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)

- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Flamethrower / Thunderbolt / Energy Ball / Ice Beam

This set is purely designed to annoy your opponent. You basically choose one of your two status moves and use it on the opposing Pokémon. Afterwards, you either Substitute or you predict a switch and use the other status condition that you haven’t used yet. After that, you keep Substituting while the opponent suffers from Toxic damage. Once the opponent is weakened enough and is in KO range from either Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Energy Ball, or Ice Beam, you finish them off.

Other Options:

Sandstorm is kind of pointless since Castform will not transform into a Rock-type Pokémon.

Opinion:

Castform is an underrated Pokémon in the Under Used metagame. It can stop almost all weather teams, and can also be a team player by setting up a weather condition for its own teammates whilst benefiting from said weather condition.

Dimes
05-10-2009, 05:02 PM
Sandstorm Weather Ball Does have it's use. It hits Salamence, Zapdos, Gyarados, Weavile, Togekiss and hits Heatran for more than what thunderbolt does.

i am cool
05-15-2009, 02:31 PM
...Before making a suggestion, make sure you know how the game works!

And since you're going to ask: What's wrong about my suggestion.

Weatherball is 50 BP since it won't receive a weather boost from Sandstorm; nor will it receive a boost from STAB since Castform won't change type.

This means Thunderbolt will hit for more damage.

Dimes
05-15-2009, 08:12 PM
Weather Ball gets the weather boost in Sandstorm. I'm 99% sure sweetie. <3

i am cool
05-15-2009, 08:25 PM
I checked Smogon, and I know this from experience. When the dang does Sandstorm boost Weatherball...It doesn't <_<.

i am cool
07-25-2009, 03:04 PM
Updated :O.