Stoutland Analysis

Stoutland	Big-Hearted Pokemon	Scrappy
	2x 1x --- --- 0x	HP 85 280-374 Atk 100 184-328 Def 90 166-306 SpA 45 85-207 SpD 90 166-306 Spe 80 148-284
	Intimidate	Sand Rush

Overview

Stoutland may seem like the generic Normal-typed Pokemon, mainly because of its average stats. However, Stoutland has the rare ability Sand Rush, which doubles its speed in a Sandstorm. Suddenly, Stoutland goes from being just 'another face in the crowd' to being a threatening, speedy sweeper. Also, the Black 2 / White 2 move tutors enabled Stoutland to learn Superpower, which greatly helps its move coverage. Superpower allows Stoutland to damage Pokemon like Heatran and Tyranitar, which Stoutland couldn't effectively damage before it got access to Superpower. Stoutland can actually hit many threats for decent amounts of damage, since it has access to moves like Frustration / Return, Superpower, Ice Fang, Wild Charge, and Fire Fang. Stoutland isn't a perfect pokemon though. Its attack realy isn't too high, so its moves may not always KO the opposing Pokemon. Also, Stoutland has 'average' defenses, one move immunity, and no move resistences, so it can't take too many hits. Regardless of its 'averageness', Stoutland is still a solid Pokemon, especially in Sandy conditions.

Sets

Sand Sweeper
Breakdown (Stoutland) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Frustration
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Ice Fang

This set allows Stoutland to, quite simply, sweep opposing teams in sand. Stoutland's speed in Sand is 518, which outspeeds nearly everythng that one would face. Despite its base 100 attack, Frustration still hits many Pokemon hard. Return can be used here as well, but remember to adjust the happiness meter to 255 when using Return, as the happiness meter is always automatically set to 0 at first. Superpower compliments Frustration nicely, as Superpower enables Stoutland to hit foes like Heatran, Tyranitar, and Terrakion for maxxive damage, and Superpower hits many Pokemon that resist Frustration hard. Crunch is used to hit the Ghosts that resist Frustration, and Ice Fang is used to hit certain threats like Gliscor and Dragonite hard. Again, Stoutland doesn't have a high attack stat, so entry hazards will help Stoutland acheive some KOs

The EVs and nature are fairly straightforward here. 252 Attack and 252 speed EVs are necessary to maximize Stoutland's offensive potental. An Adamant nature, along with a Life Orb, is used to make Stoutland's attack power as high as possible, and a Jolly nature isn't needed here since Stoutland already has high speed under Sandstorm.

Damage Calculations:

Spoiler:

Choice Bander
Breakdown (Stoutland) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Frustration
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- Wild Charge

This Stoutland set, much like the previous set, simply aims to sweep the opposition. This Stoutland has more power than the Life Orb sweeper set, but gets locked into a move due to Choice Band. Frustration is still the main option here, as it is a consistent, powerful, Stabbed move. Superpower enables Stoutland to hit foes like Heatran, Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Terrakion for massive amounts of damage. Superpower does lower Stoutland's attack and defense by one stage after every use, so it is not a good move to repeatably use. Pursuit is used here in the third slot in order to Pursuit-Trap weakened threats, which can be very useful at times. Crunch is also an option for this slot, as it simply hits the Ghost Pokemon that resist Frustration and Superpower, and it also does well against threats like Latios and Espeon. Wild Charge is included here to deal with specific threats, mainly Skarmory and Jellicent. It scores 2HKOs on each of them. Ice Fang is another consideration here to deal with certain threats, but in general, it is not wise to be locked into an unstabbed base 65 power move.

Again, max attack and speed is recommended to maximize Stoutland's offensive potental, and an Adamant nature is the best nature to use.

Damage Calculations:

Spoiler:

Counters

Physically defensive Pokemon go at the top of Stoutland's counters' list. Pokemon like Skarmory, Hippwodon, Forretress, and Metagross can all take some hits from Stoutland, then proceed to deal massive damage to Stoutland, or in Skarmory's and Forretress' case, set up entry hazards. Certain Fighting Pokemon with priority moves can also do well against Stoutland. Lucario resists most of Stoutland's moves, and can pick off weakened Stoutlands with Extremespeed. Conkeldurr can usually tank some hits, due to its bulk, and can either pick off Stoutland with Mach Punch or desstroy Stoutland with Drain Punch. Technican Breloom's Mach Punch can also work well in countering Stoutland. Sableye also works well, as it is immune to Frustration and Superpower, takes neutral damage from Stoutland's other moves, and can burn Stoutland with a priority Will-o-Wisp. Scizor is able to deal massive damage to Stoutland due to Bullet Punch, and Ferrothorn can live a Superpower, then combat Stoutland with Gyro Ball. Of course, if Stoutland has Fire Fang (which isn't used much), then Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Forretress will no longer be able to effectively counter Stoutland. Finally, if the weather is not Sandstorm, then Stoutland loses its Sand Rush speed bonus. If Politoed and Ninetales are able to switch the weather to Rain or Sun respectively, then Stoutland will be more of a liability then a help to the team that it is being used on.

Teammates

Obviously, Stoutland requires Sand in order to function well, something that Tyranitar and Hipwodon can provide. Tyranitar usually will be the better partner, as Tyranitar can use Fire Blast to dispose of some of Stoutland's counters. In terms of other partners, Jellicent and Chandelure work well with Stoutland. Jellicent and Chandelure both are immune to Fighting moves, and both of them do well against many of Stoutland's counters. In particular, Jellicent works very well against Politoed, while Chandelure works well against Ninetales. Landorus and Landorus-T can also be great partners to Stoutland, as Landorus resists Fighting moves, and Landorus also works well in Sandstorm.

Ok, finished this analysis. Let me know if you have any suggestions / comments / thoughts / etc.

Didn't read it all because it looked long, but the just of it is that stoutland is useless outside of a sandstorm essentially, because he doesn't have the bulk to move slow. Try not depending on weather so much. If you want, I can give you a creative alternative with slightly less attacking power.

I wrote this analysis for the standard / OU environment with the thinking that the only real reason to use Stoutland in standard was because of Sand Rush. I would be happy to see your creative set though; please post it.

I'll talk to you about my set next time you're on the server. And yes, using him for any reasons other than sand rush would be pretty stupid, what I was getting at though is that hes a stick in the mud inside any other weather effects.

Yes, I agree, Stoutland is fairly useless outside of sandstorm. In sandstorm though, its pretty good and pretty speedy.

Very nice. As far as I can tell everything checks out here, though I'm not the most experienced person concerning Stoutland. I'd say this is good to go.

Nice job. I have used Stoutland quite a few times and in my experience, Pursuit is more useful than crunch for trapping frail pokemon and wearing them down if not KOing them quickly.

SirJeff wrote:

Nice job. I have used Stoutland quite a few times and in my experience, Pursuit is more useful than crunch for trapping frail pokemon and wearing them down if not KOing them quickly.

That is true. Pursuit does have mroe utility than Crunch. Also, Frustration effectively has 153 base power, whereas a 2x Crunch has 160 power. Wild Charge can still hit most Ghost Pokemon hard as well.

I have replaced Crunch with Pursuit as the main move, while still mentioning both moves. The LO set is mroe about sweeping the opposition, so Pursuit probably isn't the best move for that set.