Pok�mon of the Week

Salazzle, The Toxic Lizard Pok�mon. For some reason, only females have been found. It creates a reverse harem of male Salandit that it lives with. Filled with pheromones, its poisonous gas can be diluted to use in the production of luscious perfumes.

On this week's adventure our heroes from the Pok�mon of the Week staff encounter a highly toxic lizard with a fiery personality by the name of Salazzle. It has outstanding offensive typing in Fire and Poison Type and high Special Attack and Speed to compliment it. Its only serious drawback is its practically imaginary defensive stats, so it's best if you send out Salazzle early in the battle and get some KO's and bruise up the threats to your team as much as you possibly can..while you can because our new friend here can't afford to take any hits. Also I just love its design and I think it's pretty cool that only females of the Salandit family are able to evolve.
Positives
+ Solid Offensive Typing with Fire and Poison Type
+ Base 111 and Base 117 Special Attack and Speed respectively is great
+ both of its abilities are very useful

Negatives
- While it has two solid Stab moves the rest of its movepool is rather shallow in terms of coverage options
- The rest of its stats are pretty terrible

Corrosion: The Pok�mon can poison the target even if it's a Steel or Poison type. It's a really useful new ability. However I do wish it did something against 'mons that are immune to Poison Type moves instead of just being able to inflict them with them with status though.
Hidden Ability (Available):
Oblivious: The Pok�mon cannot be under the Attract condition, or be taunted, while having this ability. Both of its abilities are viable, but on sweeper sets I prefer Oblivious, so I can't be taunted. Corrosion is useful too though.

- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Ice / Dragon Pulse
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Oblivious
EVs and Nature:
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Timid Nature

It needs as much power as possible, so Nasty Plot is a must but you need to be very careful and wait for an opening because Salazzle's bulk is non existant. Fire Blast is your strongest Fire Stab. It does come with a slight drawback in that its accuracy is only 85 instead of 100 so if you're worried about that use Flamethrower instead. The power drop between Flamethrower and Fire Blast is definitely noticeable though without a Nasty Plot boost. Sludge Wave is your secondary stab and and it'll help you take out things like Diancie and hit most everything in lower formats that Fire Blast can't for good damage. The last slot is for coverage/. You don't have a lot of options , but Hidden Power Ice is your best bet due to how many rock, ground, flying and dragon types there are in lower formats like. Dragon Pulse does hit some things harder though so it's worth considering too.

- Focus Sash: Due to how frail Salazzle is Focus Sash is definitely worth considering because you're almost guaranteed an opportunity to set up Nasty Plot.
- Poisonium / Firium Z: Like we said earlier Salazzle's set up opportunities are pretty limited because of its frailty, so anything that gives you more immediate power and help you secure a KO early on in the game like a Z move is worth considering in my opinion.
- Corrosion: Corrosion is a solid alternate ability and can be useful too. I haven't played had a chance to play around with it much, but the set I've been using is a lot like its standard set except with Toxic and Venoshock in place of Nasty Plot and Sludge Wave and Firium Z instead of Life Orb.

Salazzle has seen some good success in VGC 2017 so far. Despite terrible defenses and an extremely shallow pool of coverage moves, Salazzle can play some important roles. Its great speed allows it to outspeed many of the most common Pokemon in the format, and its Fake Out is one of the fastest available. Even without great coverage moves, Salazzle has many great support moves, and its two STAB attacks can hit many common Pokemon super-effectively, like all four island guardians, Kartana, and Celesteela.

-Flamethrower
-Sludge Bomb
-Fake Out
-Encore / Taunt
Item Attached: Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious or Corrosion
EVs and Nature:
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

As like many fast Fake Out-users in the past, Salazzle seeks to support the team with its speed. Max speed and special attack with a Timid nature is standard given Salazzle's stats, and allows it to outspeed Pokemon like Whimsicott, Alolan Persian, and Modest Tapu Koko. 4 EVs in Special Defense ensures that an opponent's Porygon2 would get an attack boost from Salazzle instead of special attack. A Focus Sash allows Salazzle to live any one attack, which, combined with its high speed, generally means that Salazzle will be able to get at least two moves off. The choice of ability is really up to the trainer, as neither one will be very useful. Oblivious can prevent Salazzle from being Taunted. Although it would be rare for this to happen, especially with Salazzle's speed, it would allow Salazzle to still use moves like Encore, Taunt, or Protect. Corrosion, while a very cool ability, is even more niche, but could come in handy to get extra chip damage against other poison types like Alolan Muk should they switch in on your poison-type moves and be poisoned.

Flamethrower is Salazzle's most consistent fire STAB attack, able to OHKO any variant of Kartana if they aren't holding a Focus Sash, and doing over 50% to basically every Celesteela. Sludge Bomb OHKOs Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu, while doing massive damage to the bulkier island guardians in Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini. Fake Out is one of the most important reasons to use Salazzle, able to prevent the opponent from attacking for a turn. Both Encore and Taunt are great support options. Encore works very well alongside Fake Out. Should the opponent Protect to avoid the Fake Out, you can simply Encore them into their Protect. Taunt is also great, able to slow down teams with setup moves.

-Life Orb is another great option for Salazzle to increase its damage output. For example, with the Life Orb, Sludge Bomb does have a good chance to OHKO many Tapu Lele. Z moves are another good way to surprise the opponent with a OHKO, especially the poison one for a surprise OHKO on Tapu Fini.
-Protect is still arguably the best move in doubles, and always a good option. It may be tougher to fit on a set with Fake Out, but it is still a great move, especially if Salazzle is not holding a Focus Sash.
-Dragon Pulse is really Salazzle's only coverage move, but Hidden Power Ice is generally the much better option to hit Pokemon like Garchomp in this format. Since any other coverage options are nonexistent, Hidden Powers (like Grass for Gastrodon, for example) are the best way to give Salazzle another attack on offensive Life Orb sets.
-Sludge Wave is Salazzle's only spread attack, but it will also hit its teammate, so a steel type that is immune is generally required.
-Fire Blast and Overheat can replace Flamethrower to do more damage, but each has drawbacks.
-Will-O-Wisp is great to cripple physical type attackers.
-Toxic is not great for Salazzle in doubles due to its lack of bulk, but can still be useful to use on Pokemon like Porygon2 or Snorlax to KO them slowly, assuming Salazzle's teammates can stall long enough.
-Snatch is great for stealing moves like Tailwind, especially against Pokemon like Drifblim.
-Disable is another amazing support move that works great with Salazzle's speed and Focus Sash.
-Knock Off is a very cool tech move to get rid of berries or other items. Though it is weak regardless, a Hasty nature can be chosen to do slightly more damage (while still giving opposing Porygon2 the attack boost).

-As with many other fast Fake Out users, teams that rely on setup moves, or that need help in preventing setup moves, appreciate the Fake Out support. Hyper offensive teams especially appreciate the potential free turns from Fake Out, Encore, or Disable, and the chip damage from a fast Pokemon like Salazzle.
-Speed control can be important for Salazzle to succeed. Though it is very fast on its own, should the opponent set up Tailwind or Trick Room, Salazzle will not last long due to its bulk. Preventing, matching, or countering your opponent's speed control is always key to winning a match, but it can be even more valuable with frail Pokemon on the team.
-Terrain control can be important on Salazzle teams. Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain blocks Fake Out, while Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain prevents any burns or poisons Salazzle may try to inflict.
-While not a perfect counter by itself, Salazzle helps pressure the popular "AFK" (Arcanine, Tapu Fini, Kartana) core with its STAB attacks and support moves.

Taking down Salazzle isn't that hard really, but very few things will enjoy switching in on this venomous flaming lizard so the easiest way is to outspeed it with something like Aerodactyl or use a 'mon with a strong priority move like Lycanroc's Accelerock. You'll also want to watch out for Ground Types like Rhyperior and Seismitoad. Not to mention bulky 'mons like Snorlax and Slowking. Also its Fire / Poison Typing leaves it especially vulnerable to both Stealth Rock and Spikes respectively, and it's already extremely frail. There's a lot more obviously, but those are the main things I would watch out for. Good luck.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game

Black/White:
Not in game

Black 2/White 2:
Not in game

X/Y:
Not in game

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Not in game

Sun/Moon:
Evolve Salandit