Blastoise now fires water off its cannons!
Type: Water
Base Stats: 79 HP / 83 Atk / 100 Def / 85 SpA / 105 SpD / 78 Spe
Abilities: Torrent | Rain Dish (HA)
Notable Moves:
Shell Smash
Rapid Spin
Flip Turn
Wave Crash
Ice Spinner
Ice Beam
Surf
Hydro Pump
Tera Blast
Earthquake
Dark Pulse
Aura Sphere
Focus Blast
Fake Out
Aqua Jet
Lost notable moves:
Scald
Toxic
Foresight?
Pros:
-Possesses two incredibly valuable moves in Shell Smash and Rapid Spin which give it notable niches in the metagame. Blastoise also has the honor of being the fastest Shell Smash user in the game.
-Good STAB and coverage moves allow it to pull off Shell Smash wallbreaker sets on both of its offensive stats.
-Terastallization changing types gives it better setup opportunities than before, while also giving it the opportunities to bypass Pokémon that walled it before thanks to Tera Blast.
-Its physical Shell Smash set gets a big boost in this Generation with Blastoise getting Wave Crash and Ice Spinner while still having the option to run Earthquake for Toxapex.
-Keeping Rapid Spin is an indirect buff in a generation where hazard removal has a shortage of options, though a Rapid Spin set will most likely be viable only on a lower tier.
Cons:
-83/85 offenses makes it weak before setting up, which in turn makes Blastoise prone to Taunt before setting up.
-Needs to run a Timid/Jolly nature in order to outpace Booster Iron Valiant which reduces its wallbreaking power.
-Vulnerable to priority moves if it has taken significant damage before setting up.
-No reliable recovery significantly reduces the lifespan of its defensive spinner sets
-Unfortunately, its stats and lack of a powerful ability leaves it underpowered in a powercrept OU metagame, even with all the tools that it has. Mono-water typing leaves it outclassed by a lot of other Water Pokémon such as Walking Wake and Toxapex.
Tera Potential:
-Tera Ground is interesting on physically offensive sets as it turns Blastoise's Electric weakness into an immunity, powers up its Earthquake against Toxapex and Walking Wake, and gives it an immunity to stray Thunder Waves.
-Tera Fire along with Tera Blast allows it to plow through the likes of Corviknight, while also turning its Grass weakness into a resistance and gaining a crucial burn immunity for physical sets.
-Tera Grass also gives it a Grass resistance while allowing Blastoise to plow through other bulky water types such as Rotom-W.
-Tera Water gives it a straightforward boost on its already powerful Water STAB, while also giving it an extra oomph to potentially KO Clodsire.
Potential Sets:
Physical Shell Smash
Blastoise @ White Herb
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Ground / Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Wave Crash
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner / Tera Blast
A nuke wallbreaker set thanks to Shell Smash and a high-powered STAB move in Wave Crash. It won't last as long compared to the special set due to Wave Crash's recoil, but it will definitely leave a mark before going down. Earthquake is an important coverage move for this set which allows Blastoise to hit multiple defensive threats such as Toxapex, Galarian Slowking, Gouging Fire, and Walking Wake, while also KOing Heatran without recoil. Ice Spinner gives it useful coverage against Grass- and Dragon-types such as Rillaboom, Lati@s, and Dragapult, as well as Tera Flying Pokémon such as Kingambit. Grass Tera Blast allows Blastoise to KO Rotom-W and Manaphy, while Fire Tera Blast does the same with Corviknight alongside a useful burn immunity. Torrent allows a weakened Blastoise to hit an insanely powerful Wave Crash before going down. Blastoise pairs well with screen users such as Alolan Ninetales and Dragapult, since those screens help Blastoise set up much more easily. In return, Blastoise can cover Alolan Ninetales's weaknesses to Steel, Fire, and Rock. Meanwhile, Dragapult provides additional utility by pivoting Blastoise in with U-Turn. Hazard users such as Deoxys-D, Great Tusk and Gliscor can help Blastoise achieve KO's much more easily. Blastoise has an advantageous matchup against OU's Unaware Pokémon, though additional Pokémon that can wear down Clodsire and Skeledirge are appreciated. A Jolly nature is needed to outspeed Booster Iron Valiant.
Special Shell Smash
Blastoise @ White Herb
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Ground / Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Tera Blast / Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Dark Pulse
A special counterpart that is less vulnerable to burns and Intimidate but is now walled by Blissey even if it runs coverage moves. It has better longevity compared to the physical set but now it has to choose between power and accuracy on its STAB. Ground Tera Blast is an excellent coverage move to hit the likes of Galarian Slowking, Toxapex, and Walking Wake. Dark Pulse nails Deoxys Defense and Gholdengo. It can alternatively run Grass Tera Blast to KO Rotom-W, but the ability to hit Toxapex and Galarian Slowking hard is too good to pass up. Hyper Beam had a good showing on Blastoise's OU niche last gen so it can also be slotted here to achieve similar results. As mentioned above, Blastoise pairs well with Alolan Ninetales and dual screens users. If paired with Alolan Ninetales, Blastoise could run Blizzard over Ice Beam to achieve more wallbreaking power, though it would only work while Snow is up. A Timid nature is needed to outspeed Booster Iron Valiant.
Rapid Spin
Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Steel / Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Flip Turn
- Body Press / Surf / Chilling Water
- Dark Pulse / Ice Beam
Blastoise has Rapid Spin, a hazard removal move that is rare in this generation. However, the power level of current OU is too much for this set to be viable. This set is better experimented on a lower tier if or when Blastoise drops. Tera Steel or Poison gives Blastoise a good defensive typing while gaining a immunity to the Poison status it hates.
Closing Thoughts:
Thanks to terastallization changing types and the transition from Hail to Snow, Blastoise now has more setup opportunities than before. However, the power level of current gen OU may still be too much to handle which could result on it dropping to a lower tier. Once it settles there though, it will be a force to be reckoned with. The addition of Wave Crash makes its physical and special sets equally viable, and along with the Rapid spin sets, these sets give Blastoise a good amount of versatility and unpredictability.
