[OVERVIEW]
Hippowdon is one of the best physical walls in the tier, excelling thanks to its excellent stats and difficult to break pure Ground typing. Out of all the tier’s physical walls such as Slowbro, Chesnaught, Cobalion and Amoonguss, Hippowdon has the best raw physical bulk. This bulk allows it to take neutral hits exceptionally well, making it a safe switch-in to unresisted moves like Terrakion’s Close Combat or Galarian Zapdos’s Brave Bird. And as it is taking these hits, it is wearing the opponent down through passive damage from the sand it summons. The many chances it gets to switch in give it plenty of opportunities to set up Stealth Rock. Hippowdon is the anchor for most balance teams in the tier, putting in work and making progress in basically every game.
[SET]
Physically Defensive (Hippowdon) @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ghost / Dragon / Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock / Whirlwind
- Whirlwind / Stone Edge
- Slack Off
[SET COMMENTS]
[SET DETAILS]
Hippowdon’s strong base stats make it excel as a physical wall. The tier is full of threatening physical attackers, and Hippowdon handles most of them with ease, switching into attacks from Pokemon like Terrakion, Revavroom, Kleavor, Krookodile, Maushold and Bisharp. It can serve as a nearly perfect blanket physical wall and damages enemies in return through its plentiful passive damage. Rocky Helmet is the most common item due to its importance in dealing with Maushold; a Pokemon which can otherwise threaten to sweep teams on its own, while also providing chip damage vs physical attackers such as Cobalion and Kleavor. However, teams with other answers to maushold or that don’t need the passive damage can instead run Leftovers. Hippowdon's sand provides strong passive damage and also helps disarm other weather teams by removing their weather. Hippowdon has two free move slots and 3 or 4 moves it wants to fit in them. Stealth Rock is the most common option, as Hippowdon makes a good setter due to its many chances to switch in and good matchup vs Cyclizar. Whirlwind is the most common move for that final slot, giving Hippowdon the option to force out setup sweepers or rack up chip damage against opponents trying to switch into Earthquake. Whirlwind is preferred over roar due to throat chop Bisharp blocking the latter move. Stone Edge is a coverage option to hit flying types trying to switch into the normally passive Hippowdon, allowing it to turn the tables on matchups like Rotom-Heat, Thundurus-Therian and Moltres. Tera Dragon helps vs Hippowdon's weaknesses to Grass and Water, being especially helpful vs iron leaves. Tera Ghost is an all-around strong defensive type that also blocks rapid spin from Cyclizar and allows it to take on Cobalion no matter how many iron defense boosts it gets and beat other Fighting types like Conkeldurr and Slither-wing. Poison gives Hippowdon a resistance to Grass, Fairy and Fighting and makes it immune to toxic and absorb toxic spikes, being useful on teams that are otherwise weak to them.
Hippowdon fits well on bulky offense and balance teams, requiring very little support. However, Hippowdon’s weaknesses must be accounted for in team building, especially when considering the set it runs. Whirlwind Hippowdon needs to be paired with something that can handle Thundurus, Moltres and Rotom-Heat well. Cyclizar and Rotom-Heat are two Pokémon that can safely switch into all of them. Hippowdon without Whirlwind may require extra support for physical setup sweepers, such as a strong revenge killer. Choice Scarfers faster than Iron leaves, such as Mienshao, Terrakion, Gengar and Zoroark-hisui can all fill this role. Non-Stealth Rock Hippowdon should be paired with some other Stealth Rock setter such as Empoleon or Cobalion. Other Ground types like Gastrodon, Rhyperior or Swampert can be used as hazard setters, but stacking weaknesses with Hippowdon is not recommended, Hippowdon has a good matchup vs Cyclizar, but keeping hazards up often relies on out-damaging regenerator with passive damage and not giving Cyclizar the chance to freely click rapid spin. Once Cyclizar manages to knock off Hippowdon’s helmet, it becomes much harder to keep the hazards up. Using pivot moves or double switching is a good way to get Hippowdon in on the turn you expect them to switch to Cyclizar and keep it from spinning or getting free regenerator health. Switching Hippo in aggressively vs Cyclizar in the early game will help you keep hazards up, even if it gets knocked off in the process.
[OTHER OPTIONS]
Sand stream is a strong ability, but certain teams such as ones with Pokémon running Synthesis or otherwise dislike passive sandstorm chip such as Alolan Muk or Suicune would prefer sand force, effectively giving Hippowdon no ability. Sand force also makes it easier to terrastalize Hippowdon since it doesn’t have to worry about its own sandstorm and has a better matchup vs other Hippowdons due to its stronger Earthquake. Hippowdon can also run varying amounts of special defense in order to better match up vs special attackers, but this is usually worse than max physdef since Hippowdon needs that bulk to reliably take neutral physical attacks.
[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
Mono-Earthquake Hippowdon is often helpless vs Ground immunities with heavy-duty boots such as Rotom-Heat, Thundurus-Therian and Moltres. These Pokemon are able to turn Hippowdon into a chance to get their strong special attackers in and start threatening damage. Air balloon users such as Revavroom, Terrakion and Cobalion can also fulfill this role. Hippowdon with Stone Edge can be threatened by Grass types due to their ground resistance and rock neutrality. Iron leaves is especially threatening to non-Whirlwind Hippowdon due to its ability to set up vs it. Other setup sweepers that boost their defense such as iron defense Cobalion and bulk up Okidogi can also exploit Hippowdon lacking Whirlwind.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sneakyplanner.598717/
Quality checked by:
Rarelyme
Grammar checked by:
QC ready
Hippowdon is one of the best physical walls in the tier, excelling thanks to its excellent stats and difficult to break pure Ground typing. Out of all the tier’s physical walls such as Slowbro, Chesnaught, Cobalion and Amoonguss, Hippowdon has the best raw physical bulk. This bulk allows it to take neutral hits exceptionally well, making it a safe switch-in to unresisted moves like Terrakion’s Close Combat or Galarian Zapdos’s Brave Bird. And as it is taking these hits, it is wearing the opponent down through passive damage from the sand it summons. The many chances it gets to switch in give it plenty of opportunities to set up Stealth Rock. Hippowdon is the anchor for most balance teams in the tier, putting in work and making progress in basically every game.
[SET]
Physically Defensive (Hippowdon) @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ghost / Dragon / Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock / Whirlwind
- Whirlwind / Stone Edge
- Slack Off
[SET COMMENTS]
[SET DETAILS]
Hippowdon’s strong base stats make it excel as a physical wall. The tier is full of threatening physical attackers, and Hippowdon handles most of them with ease, switching into attacks from Pokemon like Terrakion, Revavroom, Kleavor, Krookodile, Maushold and Bisharp. It can serve as a nearly perfect blanket physical wall and damages enemies in return through its plentiful passive damage. Rocky Helmet is the most common item due to its importance in dealing with Maushold; a Pokemon which can otherwise threaten to sweep teams on its own, while also providing chip damage vs physical attackers such as Cobalion and Kleavor. However, teams with other answers to maushold or that don’t need the passive damage can instead run Leftovers. Hippowdon's sand provides strong passive damage and also helps disarm other weather teams by removing their weather. Hippowdon has two free move slots and 3 or 4 moves it wants to fit in them. Stealth Rock is the most common option, as Hippowdon makes a good setter due to its many chances to switch in and good matchup vs Cyclizar. Whirlwind is the most common move for that final slot, giving Hippowdon the option to force out setup sweepers or rack up chip damage against opponents trying to switch into Earthquake. Whirlwind is preferred over roar due to throat chop Bisharp blocking the latter move. Stone Edge is a coverage option to hit flying types trying to switch into the normally passive Hippowdon, allowing it to turn the tables on matchups like Rotom-Heat, Thundurus-Therian and Moltres. Tera Dragon helps vs Hippowdon's weaknesses to Grass and Water, being especially helpful vs iron leaves. Tera Ghost is an all-around strong defensive type that also blocks rapid spin from Cyclizar and allows it to take on Cobalion no matter how many iron defense boosts it gets and beat other Fighting types like Conkeldurr and Slither-wing. Poison gives Hippowdon a resistance to Grass, Fairy and Fighting and makes it immune to toxic and absorb toxic spikes, being useful on teams that are otherwise weak to them.
Hippowdon fits well on bulky offense and balance teams, requiring very little support. However, Hippowdon’s weaknesses must be accounted for in team building, especially when considering the set it runs. Whirlwind Hippowdon needs to be paired with something that can handle Thundurus, Moltres and Rotom-Heat well. Cyclizar and Rotom-Heat are two Pokémon that can safely switch into all of them. Hippowdon without Whirlwind may require extra support for physical setup sweepers, such as a strong revenge killer. Choice Scarfers faster than Iron leaves, such as Mienshao, Terrakion, Gengar and Zoroark-hisui can all fill this role. Non-Stealth Rock Hippowdon should be paired with some other Stealth Rock setter such as Empoleon or Cobalion. Other Ground types like Gastrodon, Rhyperior or Swampert can be used as hazard setters, but stacking weaknesses with Hippowdon is not recommended, Hippowdon has a good matchup vs Cyclizar, but keeping hazards up often relies on out-damaging regenerator with passive damage and not giving Cyclizar the chance to freely click rapid spin. Once Cyclizar manages to knock off Hippowdon’s helmet, it becomes much harder to keep the hazards up. Using pivot moves or double switching is a good way to get Hippowdon in on the turn you expect them to switch to Cyclizar and keep it from spinning or getting free regenerator health. Switching Hippo in aggressively vs Cyclizar in the early game will help you keep hazards up, even if it gets knocked off in the process.
[OTHER OPTIONS]
Sand stream is a strong ability, but certain teams such as ones with Pokémon running Synthesis or otherwise dislike passive sandstorm chip such as Alolan Muk or Suicune would prefer sand force, effectively giving Hippowdon no ability. Sand force also makes it easier to terrastalize Hippowdon since it doesn’t have to worry about its own sandstorm and has a better matchup vs other Hippowdons due to its stronger Earthquake. Hippowdon can also run varying amounts of special defense in order to better match up vs special attackers, but this is usually worse than max physdef since Hippowdon needs that bulk to reliably take neutral physical attacks.
[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
Mono-Earthquake Hippowdon is often helpless vs Ground immunities with heavy-duty boots such as Rotom-Heat, Thundurus-Therian and Moltres. These Pokemon are able to turn Hippowdon into a chance to get their strong special attackers in and start threatening damage. Air balloon users such as Revavroom, Terrakion and Cobalion can also fulfill this role. Hippowdon with Stone Edge can be threatened by Grass types due to their ground resistance and rock neutrality. Iron leaves is especially threatening to non-Whirlwind Hippowdon due to its ability to set up vs it. Other setup sweepers that boost their defense such as iron defense Cobalion and bulk up Okidogi can also exploit Hippowdon lacking Whirlwind.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sneakyplanner.598717/
Quality checked by:
Rarelyme
Grammar checked by:
QC ready
Last edited:
