The Krilowatt Playtest

By Fuzznip and Umbreon Dan. Art by Plus.

The CAP server ladder is buzzing these days over the addition of the tenth CAP Pokémon, Krilowatt. Since late February, the Create-a-Pokémon Project has been been putting Krilowatt together piece by piece to create an all-new creature designed to stop many common threats. The result was an Electric/Water shrimp Pokémon, with diverse abilities, a large movepool and ironically huge HP. But just how much of a stink has this little shrimp stirred up in the Standard metagame? Let's take a look...

Krilowatt is the end product of CAP 10, led by Beej. He was designed to be a "Utility Counter", capable of being customized to switch into and take down a wide variety of offensive threats. His Electric / Water typing was intended to minimize the number of weaknesses; combined with Krilowatt's low weight, Ground attacks are Krilowatt's only real weakness. The primary ability, Trace, was modelled after Porygon2, and was intended to allow him to switch into Pokémon like Flygon, Gyarados, and Salamence with ease. Magic Guard was voted the secondary ability, as immunities to common field hazards were deemed to be invaluable. His stat spread was intended to give Krilowatt enough Speed to check most sweepers, including the hugely popular Salamence, as well as the bulk to absorb almost any attack once. With the ironic huge HP stat, players are far better investing in one defensive stat than in HP, forcing Krilowatt users to choose between stopping special attacks or physical attacks. And by abusing a huge movepool, including Surf, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Earth Power, and Overheat, Krilowatt would be capable of OHKOing most offensive Pokémon. In this article, we'll take a look at how this all came together in practice.

Popular Sets

During the Krilowatt Playtesting period, there were many different Krilowatt sets seen on the battlefield. Some battlers attempted to use gimmick-like sets, such as Whirlpool + Perish Song, while others used unique moves to dispatch of certain troublesome Pokémon, such as X-Scissor for Celebi and Low Kick for Tyranitar. However, there were a few extremely effective sets that stood out immediately: Life Orb, Parafusion, CounterCoat, and a defensive set.

Life Orb

Krilowatt @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spe/252 SpA
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Overheat / Earth Power / Thunder Wave

Life Orb Krilowatt was the number one set on the ladder during the Playtesting period; in fact, it was so common that it was referred to as Krilowatt's standard set. When you take a look-through at Krilowatt’s stats and abilities, you will notice that it has literally the perfect combination of traits that a Life Orb sweeper wants. A high base 105 Speed stat, gargantuan base 151 HP stat, usable offenses, excellent dual typing, enormous movepool, and probably the most important trait, Magic Guard. This entire combination makes Krilowatt an incredibly effective late-game sweeper on any team, and is difficult to take down due to its immunity to all forms of passive damage, such as entry hazards and Life Orb recoil.

The set is relatively simple. Surf and Thunderbolt are both used for STAB purposes and provide Krilowatt with excellent type coverage. Ice Beam allows Krilowatt to smack Dragon- and Grass-types, particularly Salamence and Celebi, respectively, who would otherwise be quite troublesome. The last moveslot is open to several options. Overheat is effective against Abomasnow and Bronzong, who take laughable damage from Krilowatt's other attacks, as well as hitting Scizor and other Steel-types very hard right off the bat. On the other hand, Earth Power gives Krilowatt the ability to hit grounded Steel-types for super effective damage. Because Krilowatt already has near-perfect coverage with just Surf, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam, Thunder Wave is a viable option to catch your opponent off-guard by crippling a vital member of their team.

Parafusion

Krilowatt @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 116 HP/192 Def/200 SpD
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Confuse Ray
- Ice Beam / Surf
- Thunderbolt

Parafusion Krilowatt is a seriously annoying threat in the OU metagame. It basically takes the infamous parafusion combination to a whole new level; if you thought Lanturn was annoying to deal with because of its paralysis and confusion spreading, Krilowatt is even more deadly. What makes Krilowatt such a difficult parafusion user to face is its ability, Magic Guard. With Magic Guard, Krilowatt takes absolutely nothing from residual damage, such as sandstorm, Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic, meaning Krilowatt will always be healing health each turn from its Leftovers. Also, Magic Guard combined with the parafusion strategy is the closest way Krilowatt can reliably heal a great amount of its health without resorting to Rest. Because of how Krilowatt is immune to residual damage, the only way to actually defeat Krilowatt is by hitting it with a direct attack. On top of this, the overall bulk Krilowatt packs is incredible. Base 73 Defense and 74 Special Defense coupled with base 151 HP is surely nothing to scoff at. As a testament to Krilowatt's bulk, not even a +1 Life Orb Earthquake from Salamence is capable of OHKOing this Krilowatt, making Salamence suffer from Thunder Wave and Confuse Ray. The rest of the attacks are used to avoid making Krilowatt a sitting duck to dangerous set-up threats. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt provide Krilowatt with the infamous BoltBeam combination, only resisted by Magnezone in the OU metagame. However, Surf can be used instead of Ice Beam to give Krilowatt two powerful STAB attacks under its belt.

CounterCoat

Krilowatt @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 160 HP/252 Def/96 SpD
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Thunderbolt / Ice Beam / Surf
- Thunder Wave / Thunderbolt / Rest

This is one of Krilowatt's more interesting sets seen on the battlefield, because it takes a completely different approach at handling threats. The combination of Mirror Coat and Counter is not viably used by many, if not any, Pokémon in the game, but Krilowatt definitely has the potential to use CounterCoat effectively. Its enormous HP stat, respectable defenses, extremely useful ability in Magic Guard, and a great defensive typing contribute to the high success of this set. Because of Magic Guard granting immunity to passive damage, the only way the opponent can defeat Krilowatt is by using a direct attack against it, which means Krilowatt always has the opportunity to use Counter or Mirror Coat successfully.

The final two slots are open to many options. The third moveslot solely depends on whom you want to hit harder. Thunderbolt allows Krilowatt to deal with Dragon Dance Gyarados, who would otherwise have a very easy time setting up on Ice Beam or Surf Krilowatt. With the abundance of Salamence flying around, Ice Beam is very useful in preventing it from setting up against you. Ice Beam also deals with Flygon and Celebi, two other troublesome opponents. Finally, Surf gives Krilowatt a great STAB move to use in general, hitting Pokémon such as Tyranitar, Infernape, and Heatran. The final slot is mostly given to Krilowatt's indirect attacks. Thunder Wave threatens set-up Pokémon that try to avoid Counter or Mirror Coat, and it just supports your team in general by slowing down the opponent's team. If you don't choose Thunderbolt as the primary attacking option, it's still possible to use it as a secondary attack. It also has excellent synergy with Ice Beam should you use it. Last but not least, Rest can be used to restore Krilowatt's lost health from countering attacks, allowing it to continually threaten the opponent with CounterCoat.

Defensive

Krilowatt @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 216 Def/252 Spe/40 SpA
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave / Overheat / Heart Swap

Defensive Krilowatt is one of the very few sets that take advantage of Krilowatt's alternate ability in Trace and its intended concept as a utility counter. The unique combination of bulk, typing, Trace, and Speed Krilowatt boasts is what makes it such an effective Pokémon at stopping certain dangerous threats, such as Gyarados and Salamence. The most important aspect of this Krilowatt is the use of Trace. It gives Krilowatt many opportunities to switch in on the likes of Thunderbolt Jolteon, Earthquake Flygon, Fire Blast Heatran, and Surf Vaporeon, as well as Tracing potentially useful abilities such as Natural Cure, Intimidate, and Magnet Pull.

The moveset is geared towards stopping a vast amount of different threats. Surf and Thunderbolt are the primary attacks of choice, having STAB boosts and great coverage in tandem with each other. Ice Beam adds to the coverage and helps Krilowatt hit Salamence, Flygon, and Celebi, three troublesome Pokémon Krilowatt will encounter. The final slot has three completely different moves to choose from. Thunder Wave is useful in general to cripple your opponent's Pokémon and to help your slower Pokémon outpace faster threats. Overheat gives Krilowatt another excellent attacking move, used specifically to dent Bronzong, Scizor, Forretress, Abomasnow, and other Fire-weak Pokémon. Heart Swap is a very interesting move Krilowatt has access to, and is usually effective in very specific scenarios. For instance, Krilowatt can snatch all of the boosts Calm Mind Suicune may have gathered, meaning Krilowatt can potentially score +6 in Special Attack and Special Defense. This also holds true for other stat boosters, such as Dragon Dance Gyarados, Curse Snorlax, Calm Mind Celebi, and Nasty Plot Porygon-Z.

Common Teammates

There were several Pokémon that were commonly used in conjunction with Krilowatt during the Playtest metagame. Most of these partners were Pokémon that help Krilowatt sweep more effectively, as Life Orb Krilowatt was the most dominant set around at that time.

On the defensive side, Celebi, Skarmory, and Forretress were notable teammates to Krilowatt. Celebi's typing gives it useful resistances to Krilowatt's two weaknesses in Grass and Ground, while Krilowatt in turn provides resistances to Celebi's Fire and Flying weaknesses, meaning they have great synergy within each other. Also, both Celebi and Krilowatt can use Thunder Wave to spread even more paralysis status around your opponent's team. Skarmory and Forretress fill the roles of entry hazard supporters to help Krilowatt achieve certain 2HKOss and OHKOs, which it definitely needs considering Krilowatt's mediocre offensive stats. Skarmory and Forretress also attract Fire-type attacks Krilowatt can switch into with impunity, while they can switch into Krilowatt's Grass weakness and, in Skarmory's case, Ground weakness.

The more offensive Pokémon used alongside Krilowatt include Salamence, Tyranitar, Scizor, and Heatran. Salamence has excellent synergy with Krilowatt offensively, as they both accommodate most of their weaknesses and each hurt the Pokémon they have slight troubles with, such as Blissey for Krilowatt and Skarmory for Salamence lacking a Fire move. Tyranitar and Scizor, on the other hand, are able to dispatch of Blissey, Krilowatt's worst nightmare, quite easily with the use of Pursuit. Despite Tyranitar sharing the same weaknesses as Krilowatt, the fact that it destroys Krilowatt's common switch-ins, such as Celebi, Cresselia, and the aforementioned Blissey, and the sandstorm it summons doesn't harm Krilowatt thanks to Magic Guard, is more than enough of a reason for it to be a viable team player. Scizor defeats Celebi and Cresselia with ease, and also has a resistance to Krilowatt's Grass weakness, while Krilowatt has a resistance to Scizor's Fire weakness. Finally, Heatran supports Krilowatt by taking advantage of the abundance of Celebi, and can also catch Blissey off-guard with Explosion.

Comparison to Standard Pokémon

During Krilowatt's creation, many people were comparing Krilowatt to Porygon2, largely due to the common ability, Trace. This ability has a wide range of uses in the Standard metagame, including easy switch-ins to Pokémon like Flygon, Heatran, Gyarados, and Jolteon, protection from status against Celebi and Blissey, and a couple of others. Over Porygon2, Krilowatt has some major advantages, like his much higher HP and very nice Speed, as well as the ability to hit much harder with Life Orb and STAB on some very good offensive types. Largely for these reasons, Krilowatt has seen as an "improved Porygon2" by some, and it is unlikely that little Porygon2 will ever be used on the CAP server again, despite his access to Recover.

In practice, many players realized that Krilowatt has very much in common with Starmie. Modest Starmie and Timid Krilowatt with Life Orb have roughly the same Speed and Special Attack; however, Krilowatt is a slightly more effective sweeper in general thanks to STAB on Thunderbolt and the raw bulk that comes with 151 base HP. Krilowatt also enjoys a slightly larger offensive movepool, including Earth Power and Overheat for dealing with such Pokémon as Metagross and Scizor. Immunity to passive damage is a nice tip in Krilowatt's favor as well, even though Starmie has Recover.

Although he shares Clefable's ability, the two have little in common. Clefable likes to support her team with moves like Wish, Encore, and Heal Bell, while doing minimal attacking with moves like Seismic Toss. Krilowatt, on the other hand, is great at pounding things hard. While Clefable tends to come in repeatedly and heal herself, Krilowatt is much more of a one-time use Pokémon. Similarly, Krilowatt bares little resemblance to Vaporeon, despite similar typing. Vaporeon frequently uses Wish with moves like Protect and Baton Pass, which Krilowatt does not have access to. Krilowatt is much, much faster, and prefers to knock out his opponents than to heal his teammates.

Effect on the Standard Metagame

The Krilowatt metagame was considerably faster than the Standard metagame. Krilowatt's 105 base Speed tended to discourage players from using Pokémon in the 90 – 100 base Speed range, such as Lucario, in favor of Pokémon who outspeed Krilowatt. On top of that, many of the bulky sweepers, such as Gyarados and Salamence, happened to have trouble dealing with Krilowatt and were traded out for faster, more offensive sweepers like Gengar and Infernape. Starmie, however, was hardly used at all.

Tyranitar saw frequent use as both a partner and a check to Krilowatt. The shrimp was a natural choice for often Water-weak sandstorm-themed teams, as Magic Guard provided an immunity to sandstorm damage. ScarfTar could outrun opposing Krilowatt to inflict major damage with Crunch, while slower variants generally had the bulk to take a couple of Krilowatt's attacks (provided it didn't carry Waterfall, or worse, Low Kick).

Celebi enjoyed widespread popularity as a defensive and offensive threat. Few Celebi were willing to use Grass Knot, so sets with Leaf Storm and a Life Orb were very common; Tinkerbell was hailed as one of very few Pokémon who could OHKO almost any Krilowatt. Defensive Celebi was quite common as well, for even though Life Orb Ice Beams were capable of a 2HKO, sets with Thunder Wave and Leech Seed could potentially stall Krilowatt out. Blissey also saw use, and sets with Thunder Wave or Seismic Toss were generally seen the most.

Conclusion

Now that Krilowatt playtesting is long over, the big moment of truth is brought up: did Krilowatt fulfill its concept? Krilowatt's intended concept was to be a Pokémon that can be built to counter specific threats, hence the gargantuan movepool, high HP and Speed stats, abilities, and relatively equal offenses and defenses. However, based on the observations during the test, almost all Krilowatt were taking advantage of Magic Guard, Life Orb, the Speed, and the movepool, and very few were actually using sets to counter specific threats. In fact, nearly 60% of Krilowatt used Life Orb and 80% of Krilowatt used Magic Guard. In essence, battlers were not using Krilowatt the way it was supposed to be used as: a utility counter. Instead, the majority of them were sweepers.

Despite the fact that Magic Guard greatly overshadows Trace, Krilowatt did not fail its concept. It actually fulfills it to a great extent. Krilowatt has all of the utensils to countering troublesome threats your team is weak to. You can easily build a team of five Pokémon, stick Krilowatt in the last slot, and construct its EVs, item, nature, and movepool to counter threats your team can be potentially swept by, such as Salamence, Lucario, and Gyarados. There is no doubt that Krilowatt makes a very effective utility counter, it's just that its ability to be used as an incredibly successful sweeper seems to be generally more useful to battlers.

Now that you've gotten an idea of how Krilowatt performed in the OU metagame, come on over to Doug's Create-A-Pokémon Server to battle with Krilowatt and our other nine CAP Pokémon in the CAP metagame! We'll see you there!

« Previous Article

Home