Smeargle Used Spotlight 3 : Seaking Its Potential

Hi guys today I am back with another post for my series called smeargle used spotlight, here what we simply do is take a pokemon that I feel like has potential and take out its potential in the VGC 17 format and explain it to you, as you may have guessed the pokemon I chose for today happens to be a seaking. Seaking really does seem like a meh option to go for but trust me you will have some believe in it going while going through this post, so without further ado lets get into this post:

Before I actually dig into seaking’s explanation I want to clear out that the base idea where I got inspired to do this post from was the following team that I have recently build and it will be included in the January monthly report.

Seaking’s Introduction:

Seaking is a pokemon that was released in the 1^st generation of pokemon, however since then it never received a clear highlight in any of the competitive formats vgc has had and all that I can unfortunately say is this guy is even one of those that is forgotten and left out of the original 151 list that gen 1 lovers like a lot and I don’t think I ever heard someone say that I seaking was their favorite pokemon or oh this pokemon looks cool either :P

Base Stats:

When we have a look at seaking’s base stat, I would say that we are not much impressed its highest stat happens to be its attack stat standing out in the line of 80 HP / 92 Atk / 65 Def / 65 Spa / 80 Sdef / 68 Spe. Even the 92 attack stat is just isn’t that good, overall on the looks of stats of this pokemon it is a kinda mediocre kind of pokemon.

Type:

Seaking gets a mono water type being the fish it is, if we have a look on the water type in the VGC 17 format we can see it being offensively and defensively strong against fire types like arcanine and alolan marowak, also ground and rock types like mudsdale, gigalith, nihelego and krookodile can be beaten with its help. On the defensive end of its spectrum it can easily be beat down by storm drain pokemons, mainly gastrodon, the all popular electric and grass types like tapu koko, alolan raichu, tapu bulu and kartana respectively also greatly threaten it. To conclude on the typing discussion I would say that seaking has a somewhat useful typing in this format, it has both weaknesses and strengths If utilized correctly it can satisfy.

Abilities:

Now is the portion of this post I am really really excited to discuss with you guys, so lets start of by saying seaking’s abilities are something that complement its stats a lot and help it stand out as more of an individual unit that it is:

Swift Swim: swift swim can be a very much useful ability this season especially as pelipper is very good in this format; what I’m trying to say is that the base 92 attack stat when paired up with the STAB as well as the rain boost can dish out some sizeable damage. Although double ducks in the most common rain archetype and to be honest the only one being used, seaking on the opposite end of thing can be dealing damage on the physical spectrum. Swift swim doubling up seaking’s speed stat in rain can greatly complement its speed and make it much useful.

Water veil: well this is the ability that gets least discussion here, what water veil only allows you to do is prevent burns, well firstly the amount of will-o-wisp in this format is much less than the previous formats and even if you want your seaking to support your team you would better want lightningrod talking about which we move onto the next ability.

Lightningrod: extremely and just extremely good ability, to start this discussion with lightningrod can really do something big in this format with tapu koko being atleast the top 5 most popular pokemon and being viable with the strongest and popular pokemons is used a lot, with the addition of things like raichu that can use electric moves. After it gets that special attack boost it can put it to good use, especially with all the intimidate around it can use now special water type moves instead of using physical water type attacks also partnering it up with celesteela or tapu koko against marowak teams like I have done helps you out a ton!

Competitive aspects:

Like I did it last time with my post this time too I will be going forward to get to you guys some competitive aspects of seaking that you can abuse them to use a seaking well:

Coverage:

Ok we are back here again, seaking can also get a lot of moves that mean coverage for it. To start with some useful water cover especially against marowak and arcanine in this format is really good, if you use it special you can get that ice beam ice coverage, garchomp, salamence as well as dragon types like drampa can be done a lot of damage with it. Using coverage moves like poison jab is helpful in this format with things like tapu bulu that know how to dominate. Smart strike can be good especially more against faries as well as against that super annoying ninetales that can throw hail in the way of the rain attacker side of seaking’s potential. Megahorn also calls for some useful coverage.

Rain Attacker:

As discussed above I believe that seaking can be the very new rain attacker, combined with the force of rain which boosts its offensive output as well as doubles its speed it can take great advantage of it as an attacker, on the opposite end to golduck, seaking can dish out some real damage on the physical spectrum of things, the sample sets down there as well as the calculations that I put up with it sure will give more proof of its rain offensive potential and might make you consider it. Especially if ran with a partner that’s a fast electric type like tapu koko and then seaking using the move soak to make the opponent partnered with the electric type using an attack on the same slot can be very much useful in offensive means for the team that you are using.

Lightning rod supporter:

Lightningrod ability sure does give seaking a worth spotlight, using its ability it can do really well with partners and throws huge blocks in the way of electric types of this format, even if they have discharge you can still use the special attack boost you got from them against them and then here I use the copy paste tactic from what I just said before: especially with all the intimidate around it can use now special water type moves instead of using physical water type attacks also partnering it up with celesteela or tapu koko against marowak teams like I have done helps you out a ton!

Weaknesses of Seaking:

Main weaknesses factors of seaking include its weak defensive stats. If you are using it as a sweeper it is going to be quite hard for seaking to be switched into its opponents as if you are trying to use it offensively it might as well be a glass cannon role for sweeping, utilizing it fully might be tough for some people but if done correctly it would be quite amazing. Although I do have a bulky spread for discussion, but naturally as a sweeper it is quite frail.

Sample Sets:

Seaking @ Waterium Z 

Ability: Swift Swim 

Level: 50 

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe 

Adamant Nature 

- Waterfall 

- Poison Jab 

- Protect 

- Substitute

This is the first spread up for discussion it utilizes the strong rain mode tactics I have talked to you guys about. Water fall with the z-move can be very strong especially in rain whereas poison jab counts for coverage against grass types like bulu. The last move after the staple protect I chose was substitute, the reason for this was that since testing and playing with a double ducks team I put golduck with substitute because of it being a glass cannon, so I thought might as well be a good idea to get some offense off similarly might work for seaking too. Following are some damage calculations for it:

-1 252+ Atk Seaking Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Arcanine in Rain: 144-170 (73 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

-1 252+ Atk Seaking Hydro Vortex (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Arcanine in Rain: 284-336 (144.1 - 170.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Seaking Hydro Vortex (160 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Gigalith in Rain: 288-342 (150.7 - 179%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Seaking Hydro Vortex (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Celesteela in Rain: 138-163 (67.6 - 79.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Seaking Hydro Vortex (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela in Rain: 172-204 (84.3 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Seaking Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu: 140-168 (79 - 94.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

 

Seaking @ Choice Band 

Ability: Swift Swim 

Level: 50 

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe 

Adamant Nature 

- Waterfall 

- Smart Strike 

- Poison Jab 

- Megahorn

This set is also for abusing the rain weather for seaking, following are some calcs for it, team comfort ability and playstyle call for this alternate offensive variant on your teams:

252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela in Rain: 130-154 (63.7 - 75.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Celesteela in Rain: 103-123 (50.4 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Arcanine in Rain: 216-254 (109.6 - 128.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Waterfall vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Gigalith in Rain: 216-254 (113 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu: 212-252 (119.7 - 142.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele in Rain: 168-198 (94.9 - 111.8%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Seaking Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele: 148-176 (83.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Seaking @ Focus Sash 

Ability: Lightning Rod 

Level: 50 

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe 

Modest Nature 

IVs: 0 Atk 

- Scald 

- Ice Beam 

- Soak 

- Protect

This is the special supportive set that I ran on my team with the most suggested partners and also as I have used in celesteela and tapu koko, following are some satisfying calcs for this set that inspired me to go with my decision:

 252+ SpA Seaking Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 168-200 (91.3 - 108.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Seaking Scald vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Marowak: 108-128 (64.6 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252+ SpA Seaking Scald vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Marowak: 162-192 (97 - 114.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

+1 252+ SpA Seaking Scald vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Marowak: 170-204 (101.7 - 122.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Seaking Scald vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Gigalith in Sand: 78-92 (40.6 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Seaking Scald vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Arcanine: 116-138 (58.8 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 Seaking @ Sitrus Berry 

Ability: Swift Swim 

Level: 50 

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD 

Careful Nature 

- Waterfall 

- Toxic 

- Soak 

- Protect

This is the bulkier or say the more supportive set I was talking about, it can stay around longer to absorb the electric type attacks. While it can also provide support to its team mates from its toxic and soak. Following are some damage calculations for this spread:

+1 252+ SpA Porygon2 Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 12+ SpD Seaking: 158-186 (84.4 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 12+ SpD Seaking: 96-114 (51.3 - 60.9%) -- 4.3% chance to 2HKO after hail damage and Sitrus Berry recovery

252+ Atk Gigalith Continental Crush (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Seaking: 138-163 (73.7 - 87.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

-1 252 Atk Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Seaking: 134-162 (71.6 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

Conclusion:

So guys with all that what I should be calling something fun ends here, I actually planned to do this guide in January but since it is winter vacation and soon after writing it I got very much excited to post it out to you guys, so here it is, to give some teasers for what might be next up on this series happens to be something like alolan Persian, togedemaru and buzzwole, so definitely watch out for them. Hope you enjoyed, Bye for now!