Entry Hazard Guide

[Wedge]

Entry Hazard Guide

Entry Hazards are Pokemon techniques that damage Pokemon when they switch into battle. There are three types of entry hazards, each hitting certain types of Pokemon and each having a specific maximum number of layers.

• Stealth Rock
• Spikes
• Toxic Spikes

Stealth Rock - Stealth Rock is easily the most useful entry hazard in Pokemon, if not the most useful move in the entire game. It hits every single Pokemon who switches into it (aside from Magic Guard Clefable) and is the best defense against teams running Focus Sash (not that FS is used for anything besides a lead). Stealth Rock will do damage based on how weak a Pokemon is to Rock type attacks.

4x Resistance: 3% Damage
2x Resistance: 6% Damage
1x Neutrality: 12% Damage
2x Weakness: 25% Damage
4x Weakness: 50% Damage

While 6-25% damage might not look like much, it certainly adds up, especially since switching is an integral part of battling. Stealth Rock no longer allows your opponent to freely switch to a counter or check for your Pokemon without some sort of fee, in this case, a percentage of their counter's life.

Stealth Rock only takes a single turn to set up, not 2 or 3 like other entry hazards, so teams that are very offensive can viably use it due to the speed of activation. Even if it is spun away, they can very easily be set up again, which makes them very convenient, useful, and deadly.

Every team should have a slot for Stealth Rock. It is easily one of the most useful moves in the game. If your opponent switches to a counter for your Pokemon, they still take damage from both your attack, and from the Stealth Rock. By damaging your opponent's switch-ins, you can methodically wear down their team to the point where one of your Pokemon can sweep. Stealth Rock finds the most use on offensive teams where the battles tend to be fast and furious, with plenty of switches going on. Stealth Rock also turns some 3HKOs into 2HKOs and 2HKOs into OHKOs, so that your sweepers will only be damaged for 0 or 1 turns, rather than 1, 2 or 3, which can make all the difference. Sets are made now always taking Stealth Rock into account. A counter that can take 90% damage and OHKO back is no longer useful, since it will take 12% damage switching in, thus killing it. Pokemon such as Gyarados and Salamence have their ability to sweep hindered due to the 25% damage they take switching into the field. All in all, Stealth Rock is the most used and most useful entry hazard and should always find a spot on your team, no matter what kind it is.

Spikes - Spikes are set up in three layers, and damage all Pokemon that can be hurt by the move Earthquakel, aka all Pokemon that don't have a Flying Type or Levitate. Different layers will do different amounts of damage.

1 layer: 12% Damage
2 layers: 19% Damage
3 layers: 25% Damage

As you can see, a consistent 25% damage every time many Pokemon switch in can easily add up and weaken the opposing team for a sweep much faster than Stealth Rock, but at the price of being far less accessible and more difficult to set up.

Spikes are most useful on stall teams where the damage from entry hazards is the primary method of hurting opposing Pokemon. Combined with pseudo-hazing moves such as Roar and Whirlwind or moves that force switches such as Yawn, Perish Song, or Confuse Ray, Spikes can rack up massive amounts of damage. On more offensive teams, however, where the pace is very fast and losing momentum can mean losing the game, Stealth Rock is generally a better choice.

Toxic Spikes - Toxic Spikes are a slightly different form of entry hazard that induce a certain status ailment depending on how many layers are set up.

1 layers: Poison (steady 12% damage per turn)
2 layers: Bad Poison (6% * # of turns in play)

Toxic Spikes will not affect Pokemon who Levitate, are Flying type, are Steel type, or are Poison type. In fact, grounded Poison types (those without Levitate or a secondary Flying type) will absorb Toxic Spikes if it comes in contact with them.

Toxic Spikes is an excellent move for a stall team. Having every susceptible Pokemon on the opponent's team Badly Poisoned disables virtually all attempts to set up and break a stall team's core. However, Toxic Spikes can also be used on an offensive team to break walls and generally weaken the opposing team for a sweep later in the game. Two turns is more than Stealth Rock requires, but is not high enough to significantly detriment the momentum, especially at the beginning of a match.

How to Set Up Entry Hazards

Entry hazards should generally be set up as soon as possible (the first turn of the game is the best time) in order to ensure maximum effectiveness. For Stealth Rock on offensive teams, it is common to use 'suicide leads' whose sole purpose on the team is to set up Stealth Rock, and then die in order for the next member to arrive unharmed. Azelf, Infernape and Aerodactyl are the most common suicide leads. Bulkier Pokemon such as Swampert, Metagross, Jirachi and Bronzong can be used on most teams to not only set up Stealth Rock, but to come back in later or serve as a check to certain Pokemon without essentially starting the game 5-6. On stall oriented teams, Swampert, Skarmory, Blissey and Hippowdon are all excellent choices for setting up Stealth Rock.

Spikes are a bit trickier to set up. The only truly viable 'spikers' in OU are Skarmory, Forretress, Smeargle and Roserade. Spikes should also be set up as early as possible. Toxic Spikes can be set up by Forretress, Smeargle, Roserade, Tentacruel or Nidoqueen with relative ease. The latter three also have the added bonus of absorbing opposing Toxic Spikes.

How to Abuse Entry Hazards

To use Entry Hazards (especially Spikes) to their maximum potential, entry hazard abuse is used. The most obvious way to abuse these are the moves Roar and Whirlwind which force the opponent to change Pokemon, dealing damage with any entry hazards currently on the field. However, moves that usually cause the opponent to switch such as Perish Song and Yawn are also a good way to abuse entry hazards. With Perish Song, the opponent will either die in three turns, or switch out causing more damage to their team. The same goes for Yawn, except the Pokemon goes to sleep instead, effectively eliminating it from the match for a few turns. The last way to abuse entry hazards is to use Pokemon such as Heatran and Scizor that cause the opponent to switch out. This makes them suffer damage each time they switch a vulnerable Pokemon out from Pokemon with a wide array of coverage.

How to Protect Entry Hazards

The most prominent threat to entry hazards is the move Rapid Spin, which completely clears the field of all entry hazards placed by your opponent. This means that if you had 6 layers of entry hazards up and your opponent uses Rapid Spin, you have just let 6 turns go to waste. The easiest way to block this move is to use a 'spin blocker'. A spin blocker is a Ghost Pokemon that makes the use of Rapid Spin fail because it misses. Rotom (Appliance) is the most effective spin blocker currently available due to its outstanding typing, good defenses, and high special attack. Dusknoir and Gengar are also viable, but Dusknoir is inferior to Rotom in almost every way and Gengar is too frail to take a hit from anything that isn't resisted.

[Macawmoses]

Wow, I'm quite impressed with this. Well done Wedge.

[Wedge]

Thanks Mack. What else should I write?

[Neerb]

Thanks Mack. What else should I write?

Maybe about the different classes a team should have, like Sweepers, Tanks, etc.

[Wedge]

Maybe about the different classes a team should have, like Sweepers, Tanks, etc.

Well, since teams should be running off of a central strategy now, there aren't any required 'classes' teams should have. I mean, obviously heavily offensive teams should be running sweepers, but teams don't have to have 2 Sweepers, 3 Walls, and 1 Wall Breaker or whatever the 'standard' was some time ago.

[Cornwad]

This is great!
I would like to see a rain/sun/sandstorm/hail guide ;D

[RX-78-2]

Yeah, I agree with the others. Very good. But how many random Trainers on Wi-Fi/competitive battlers use entry hazards in their team? Is it everyone? Most people? About half? You couldn't find a statistic about this could you? I've been tossing around the idea even before reading this guide, and I must say that it swayed me more toward using entry hazards. I don't want to be like everyone else and (ab)use them though. But I want to be able to counter them too, just in case that many people really do use it, but don't want to have to rely on Rapid Spin. Is there any other move that can remove them?