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| Golem Pokemon of the week is brought to you by Pokemon Masters - Battle & Trade! Look us up on Facebook for more Pokemon related entertainment and information! And tell your friends!!! |
Vulpix says:
Hello there, dedicated readers. Before we get to this edition of Pokemon of the Week, I have an important public service announcement. I'm going to play the "I'm a Real Person" card and go on vacation. As some of you might be aware, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It's kind of like writers' awareness month, and it's a month long commitment to write 50,000 words (about 200 pages of a novel). I've been writing fanfiction for six years, and this will be my first legitimate attempt to write an original story with the intention of being able to publish it and make money on my hobby.
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| You may never understand the perverse glee I experience when I ruin the lives of my characters, but it's a private kind of paradise and I just need to do this for a while. Thanks for understanding. |
October is also deer season, so I'll be using it for both hunting deer and setting up everything I need to prepare to write my story. For these reasons, we'll be putting Pokemon of the Week on a temporary hold after this edition. I'm not sure when we'll bring it back (my writing may extend past November, and then it's the holidays, too). Fear not! The other admins of Battle & Trade are ready and available to entertain you. Don't forget that the Ruby and Sapphire reboots are about to be released, too! Tell your friends about our page and go nuts!
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| November 21, 2014 Are you ready for this?!? |
OKAY. ONTO GOLEM.
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| I wonder if senpai will notice me today... |
I'm going to be honest with you... Golem isn't that special. Raikou has done a fantastic job of highlighting what can be exploited to make Golem into a heavy hitter, and I have to admit that with Golem's high attack and physical defense, he at least has a use. As for me... the weaknesses make it so not worth it. I have six places on a team and I want them to have multiple uses so I can be ready for any situation. Golem has 6 weaknesses, and two of them are doubled up. The weaknesses he has are fairly commonly used types. Earthquake, Energy Ball, Surf and Scald, Ice Beam and most of the commonly used Hidden Powers (Ice, Water, etc.) all present a major problem for Golem. Sturdy can provide protection from a one hit KO, but sturdy can also be easily broken and is therefore only somewhat reliable.
Now, Raikou is so awesome that his sets actually make Golem look good. I don't confess to his level of expertise, but if you told me "Rock a Golem on your team," I'd probably come at you with this:
"RockDat"
Item: Weakness Policy
Ability: Sturdy
EV 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def
Nature: Jolly
- Stone Edge
- Sandstorm
- Double Edge
- Earthquake
This set lets you hit anything with at least normal effectiveness. Your only challenge is to survive until you get to that point. Let the gauntlet be dropped!
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| Oh no not I... I will survive. |
Raikou says:
Raikou is HERE!!!!
Now that that is out of my system, we can now move on to the POTW. This is that lovable gen 1 turtle/lizard/boulder, Golem! Ever since the beginning of Pokémon, this dude has been here. Probably one of my favorite trade evolutions, and when played well, he can wreck so much face. Granted he may not see as much competitive play time as a majority of the other trade eves get, he can still do his own work.
HP 80, Atk 120, Def 130, SpA 55, SpD 65, Spe 45 = BST 495
Now with these base stats, he is often seen as pretty "solid" (lawlz) defensive wall. With 80 HP, which isn't too horrible, and a defensive stat of 130, he can really take a ton of physical hits. His main problems come about with his typing, Rock/Ground. This typing give him 2 different x4 weaknesses in water and grass, and adds to his lost of other weaknesses. Although, don't let this deter you, because with a well built team around him, and proper set up, this guy can bring home the bacon if you need him too.
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| Don't mind me... just looking for bacon. |
He has 2 different basic abilities, and a Hidden Ability as well. Sturdy which prevents him from being OHKO'd as long as he is @ full health, Rock Head which prevents recoil damage, and the HA which is Sand Veil which raises evasion on sand teams. Rock Head has a lot of potential for a lot of pokes to give them heavy damage and stay power due to you not loosing life from recoil, but sadly Golem's only recoil damage move is Heavy Slam, so this ability goes wasted on him. Sturdy is the ability you will see 98% of the time, as Sand Veil is banned from OU tourneys due to evasion clause. BUT, there is a fun troll set to run in doubles with Sand Veil that I will share for funsies.
Custap Lead (Golem) @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EV 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Adamant
- Rock Slide/Stone Edge
- Stealth Rocks
- Earthquake
- Explosion
This set is basically what I call suicide Golem. Turn one you use to set up your stealth rocks, then once you have been brought to your sturdy, Custap allows for your next move to be priority, so you can use explosion to wreck whatever is out. (Custap works once you are @1/4 HP or less). Let's say that you get a couple turns before they actually do attack to get you to your Sturdy, you should basically say thank you because now you get off some extra damage with Stone Edge or EQ to ensure that KO with Explosion.
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| You can't handle this Stealth Rock. |
Your Weakness is my Policy (Golem) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sturdy
EV 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Adamant/Jolly
- Rock Slide/Stone Edge
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Explosion/Power-up Punch
Thanks to Gen 6 adding Weakness Policy, this adds a whole new level of competitive-ness to some Pokés, that previously may have lacked in power. Now granted, Golem as a solid base Attack, but being at +2 is always better than neutral. This set as whole is a lot of fun, especially if you can catch your opponent off guard with it. Turn 1 set up Rock Polish to get the speed boost, if they hit you with a super effective move that turn, you now have a +2 attack and +2 Speed Golem. If they switch out, you can either use this opportunity to use another Rock Polish and add more to your speed(Since he isn't very fast to begin with, he may need that little extra), or you can Use Power-Up Punch to get your attack higher. I personally would use Jolly over Adamant, because he can use every extra speed point he can get. This is fun to use, and if you get set up, I feel bad for the other player.
You Can't See Me (Golem) @ Bright Powder
Ability: Sand Veil
EV 252 HP / 252 Atk
Adamant
- Rock Slide/Stone Edge/Protect
- Double Team
- Earthquake
- Power-up Punch
This set here is best used on a doubles team. What I like to do is open up with the pair of Golem with either T-tar or Hippowdon, then in turn 1 I Protect with Golem and switch into a poke that can redirect attacks, my Poké of choice is Amoongus. Then from turn 2 till Amoongus dies, I Rage Powder with said Amoongus, and Double Team with Golem. After you have that Evasion up as high as you can get it, you start using Power-up Punch to get your Attack up. Now the stab move you use in the end is up to you. There are less that are immune to Stone Edge/Rock Slide than there are for EQ, but sometimes EQ is all you need. This set is used just to troll away and really aggravate your opponent. If they let you set this up, they should fear for themselves entirely.
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| Yes, I'm using Bright Powder! Watch me wreck you with it, too! |
Now as always, there are a BUNCH of different sets that are viable. If you were wondering if I was going to bring up another Assault Vest possibility, you are quite correct. As you all know I love this item, I try to use it on any Pokémon that can be defensive in some way. Now granted with him have 2 x4 weaknesses, and a Sp Def stat of only 65, it still doesn't always prevent death from a Sp Atk, it does let him live quite a few good hits, and let's you get some damage of on other Pokés.
9 times out of ten, there is always a better option than Golem for your team. In all reality, he is rather crippled in too many ways, BUT THIS SHOULD NOT DETER YOU FROM USING HIM. I have used him several times, and will use him again. I love Golem, and with a good majority of Pokémon, it all boils down to how well you play with them in order to determine how good they really are, or can be.
As always, Raikou will be here to help you out in any way you need!!!! Peace!
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| As always, if you want your own admin's choice, battle ready version, just share our FB page on your timeline and comment "Shared" on the POTW post. Only available for a limited time! See you after NaNoWriMo! |
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