Log of Poison Weaknesses and Effective Ways to Cover Them

Apologies in advance if this reads more like a research paper- it’s an extension of research I’m doing for work; even at the top levels, there’s always more to learn about battling!

I’ll start with a team list (non-inclusive):

Spectre, my gengar (holds mega stone)
Bedrock, my Nidoqueen
Boulder, my Nidoking
Leviathan, my Arbok
Thorna, my Roserade
Pokey, my Drapion

Type breakdown:
Poison x6 (my type specialty)
Ground x2
Grass x1
Dark x1

With this established, my notes:
Running a type specialty is always a risk- it requires both a passion for the type, and a keen understanding of their weaker points, which some are better with than others. For poison, these weaknesses are ground and psychic.

On my team, I’ve made sure to cover psychic- with both Spectre and Pokey. That said, many Pokémon learn dark type moves like bite or dark pulse. While these are better utilized on a dark type for the best damage, having one in your pocket on an unexpected ‘mon can turn the tides of battle.
Ghost moves are less common, but many Pokémon learn lick, which can be used in a pinch- I prefer shadow ball, though. It’s consistent, and plays into spectre’s strengths better; but I will not be going over physical and special moves here.
A dark type to counter a psychic type is particularly effective, because you can negate the damage completely. A Pokémon like gengar might still get knocked out before you can touch that alakazam! Especially since many psychic types may also be running something like dark pulse or shadow ball- both very effective on ghosts.
-WILL CONTINUE. A CHALLENGER IS HERE

-Challenger gone. He had an excadrill. it wasn't pretty.
But it IS a good transition into my next point, dealing with types of pokemon that you can't hit- like most well known, flying types being unaffected by ground type attacks. However, psychic also cannot hit dark, dragon cannot hit fairy, electric cannot hit ground, ghost's immunity to normal and fighting, and normal to ghost... and relevant to me, poison cannot hit steel.
This makes excadrill a particular issue. Both ground AND steel, it hits my team hard, and they have trouble hitting back.
Possible solutions:
Quick claw on Boulder. Not guaranteed to work, let alone be effective.
Buy a stock of Shuca berries. Takes up that pokemon's item. would need to be kept fresh.
Swap someone for Pummel (my toxicroak). I would have to know in advance that he'd be a better fit.

This is going to need some more time to think. I'm going to sleep on it.

You know, ground types weren’t always such an issue, Spectre used to levitate and avoid the attacks? But ever since we got her mega stone fitted and started using it, she’s had trouble levitating. She doesn’t seem to mind, but it is strange.

*sk8s in* steel types arent a big deal for me and houndour *heh* maybe you should pick up a fire type to use..

A Crobat or a Weezing could solve this issue as well, but I’m not sure I’m ready to take on another Pokémon just yet. Sass (my Salazzle) could potentially handle it, but she would need to last more than one turn, and she has a 4x weakness. She’s also, well… she’s a sore loser. I don’t battle with her often because she hates losing, and that’s always a possibility in my line of work.

Ugh. Bruno says to stop worrying about it, excadrill isn’t even native. Easy for him to say, when he handles steel types so well!

I think my best option is going to be training with Boulder and hoping he can withstand it. He’s always up for the challenge, at least. He already knows brick break… it’s important to have type coverage, especially when you’re a type specialist.

i like dark types.. should i be worried about type weaknesses too.. i havent had any issue yet so i didnt think they were worth memorizing.. my houndour demolishes everything in its path *heh*

h0und00med wrote:*sk8s in* steel types arent a big deal for me and houndour *heh* maybe you should pick up a fire type to use..

For normal steel types, I have ground types. I don’t need fire type coverage otherwise, grass is weak to poison, and I have rock type coverage for bug types- we aren’t weak to bug anyway, nor ice.
I have a fire type, anyway. Sass, my Salazzle.

h0und00med wrote:i like dark types.. should i be worried about type weaknesses too.. i havent had any issue yet so i didnt think they were worth memorizing.. my houndour demolishes everything in its path *heh*

For dark, you’ll want to watch out for fighting, fairy, and bug- bug shouldn’t be an issue for your houndour, nor fairy, actually. I would recommend Psychic fangs to cover fighting- and another team member to round out the rock/ground weakness. A water type would work, or grass.

*writes down your advice* *does a cool nod* thanks

*sk8s away*

Now, to cover ground type weakness, thats what Thorna does- with her grass typing, it means she has the upper hand. However, something that’s fire/ground, like camerupt, she might have trouble. It’s possible to stall, she runs ingrain and toxic, but it’s potentially better to utilize Boulder or Bedrock, who can also take hit, and their ground typing can handle camerupt’s fire. Leviathan can also handle it.

All of this really comes down to a variety of coverage. There’s a balance you need to hit, between STAB and coverage. Next section will be about status effects.