LEADS IN HG/SS OU I. Introduction Dealing with leads is one of the most important factors in a dpp ou game. This guide will go into some detail how to best come out of a matchup situation, and how to minimise any losses due to a bad matchup. Before we discuss how best to deal with any lead scenario it is important to know the leads, both common and rare ones. Leads can be split into four categories: (1) Suicide leads (2) Tank leads (3) Scouters (4) Anti-leads II. Suicide leads Let us deal with Suicide leads first. They are very problematic to face due to the fact that you have to either dispose of them by exerting enough pressure before they can explode / taunt and get more damage by forcing switches or time it well and switch into a Ghost-type if you lack the means to ohko/2hko it. This is quite hard to do when using stall. Their main objective is to get up hazards so preventing them from doing so wins the war! However at times you have to allow them to set up in order to either kill them before they cause further damage to your team by forcing switches (revealing Pokemon too early can play a serious role later on in the game) or get up your own hazards predicting the no TAUNT turn 1. Suicide leads include: -Aerodactyl: Quite common -Azelf: Very common lead -Bronzong: This is rarely seen I the lead slot however be aware of the possibility of encountering one. -Froslass: Has a niche in that it spinblocks and gets up spikes quickly. -Heatran: Quite common lead -Infernape: Old school, still seen at times. -Mamoswine: Known as the "lead that no-one likes facing and comes when you least want it to" not super common but is seen enough to be known by everyone. -Metagross: Very common lead -Roserade: Quite common, good typing and ability to get up spikes and toxic spikes, sleep powder is a great tool early game. -Smeargle: It either excels or dies and accomplishes nothing. Due to its immense number of moves, it is hard to pin point what exactly its purpose on the opposing team is. Anticipate early spore followed by hazards and perhaps explosion or endeavour + focus sash. -Snorlax: Very rare / gimmick lead Forretress doesn’t get a mention as you shouldn’t be using it as a lead anyways in this day and age! It ain't 2010 anymore son, move on. Using STALL vs these leads If you are using stall, dealing with these leads with the exception of Azelf should be straight forward. Hippowdon can set up rocks on Bronzong and Heatran, both of which will not explode on you turn 1. Metagross and Snorlax at times can explode turn 1 as Hippowdon is a key part of any stall team, if you have a skarmory or Forretress it would be ideal to go into them turn 1, however be wary for a Magnezone. Azelf paints a pretty big problem for stall, it has access to taunt forcing most stall lead Pokemon to switch-out, possesses Explosion as well which it can use at the flick of its wrist and sometimes carries Fire Blast or Psychic to punish Ghost and Steel-type switch-ins predicting its Explosion. The best move to do if your lead has no way to 2hko Azelf (Think Hippowdon / Swampert) is to switch out directly to a Ghost-type or something that can take an explosion such as Heatran / Skarmory / Forretress / Jirachi or a scarf Tyranitar. If you stay in the risk is huge as you Stealth Rock and if Azelf Taunts you, you now have to switch-out and your opponent is well aware at this stage and can simply double with little risk to catch off your Ghost or even Fire Blast to catch a Steel-type. It is small things like this that can make lead matchup a lot easier. Now if the Azelf is a choice variant and lacks rocks, you it would suck for you to switch out as it U-turns however it's almost impossible to know what kind of Azelf it is before-hand and taking unnecessary risks is foolish when using stall. Aerodactyl lacks Explosion and has mediocre attack stat making it easier to deal with. However newer players may not anticipate some slightly more offensive versions rocking Power Herb with Sky Attack to ohko Machamp turn 1 which can be a huge blow! Don't get Aerodactyled. Keep in mind some Aerodactyl leads lack Focus Sash and carry Life Orb instead to ohko Zapdos and Dragonite leads. Hippowdon if holding Ice Fang can immediately go for it 2hkoin the Aerodactyl, otherwise it has to switch out to a bulky water of Forretress preferably. A point to note is typically a double switch back to Hippowdon from Forretress would be wise on turn 2 to scout for Magnezone or a spin blocker which also ensures rocks from Hippowdon are laid down. Swampert leads can 2hko with Ice Beam. Bronzong thankfully is slow as hell and isn't as strong as Metagross making its explosion alot easier to take. It also lacks Taunt meanig that you will always get up hazards against it with relative ease. Things to look out for is Explosion which can still severely dent Hippowdon and Swampert leads and Trick; it may carry Grass Knot or Hidden power Fire for luring and hurting Swampert and Forretress respectively but its very rare. Hypnosis isn't to be forgotten as well, it can cripple an opposing Pokemon early on in the match however you should be able to get up a layer of hazards before it puts your lead to sleep. Froslass ensures its hazards stay until it dies thanks to its typing making it no.1 priority to kill it. Due to its paper thin defences one would think it is an easy task however it holds Destiny Bond threatening your attackers life. Alot of players simply spam attacks hoping that they'd win the 50/50 war and kill the Froslass as it spikes twice (or Taunt + Spike). There is no easy way around this and depending on your stall team, it may be best to hit the first time with your lead breaking its focus sash, then comes the hard part. It will most likely go for Taunt turn 1 as you Earthquake / Brave Bird / Gyro Ball etc then you may be tempted to bring in your scarf Pokemon to outspeed and kill it next turn however this brings ALOT of problems. Not only do you reveal your revenge killer in the 2nd turn of the game but Froslass can Destiny Bond forcing you to switch yet again or use a non attacking move which isn't wise. Your scarf user is most likely something that Tyranitar and Scizor will love to trap so chances are you will lose the match before it begun. Hit turn 1 followed, if the Froslass hasn't Taunted turn 1 go for the Stealth Rock as it is very common based on the analysis I have done that players favour getting a second layer of spikes (as it in theory is the safest option with the most reward). Heatran can vary from choice specs, life orb, choice scarf, focus sash and shuca berry. However it isn't too hard to deal with due to its predictable movepool, all sets will carry a Fire-type attack coupled with Earth Power and Explosion. Stealth Rock is a big possibility along with some form of Hidden power or rarely Dragon Pulse. Hippowdon can get rocks down easily however soe leads carry Will-o-wisp so if you lack a Pokemon with Heal Bell / Aromatherapy make sure you keep those rocks that you sacrificed Hippowdon's status for! Swampert must be wary of Life Orb boosted HP Grass while Blissey and other Pokemon with weak defense stats must avoid Explosion. Hippowdon and Tyranitar can set uprght of the bat whilst other leads may have to switch. Some Infernape variants are choiced however these aren't suicide leads. The Suicide lead consists of Fake Out / Fire Attack / Close Combat and Stealth Rock. Some may carry Endeavour as well so be wary however in this day and age it is getting less usage. Hippowdon and Swampert can get up rocks and then threaten Infernape out with ease. If your lead is a steel-type a Water-type switch-in is perfect such as Gyarados, Suicune or Starmie. Lead Suicide Ape carries Focus Sash so Hippowdon is the perfect counter-lead. Mamoswine also carries Endeavour however it is alot more common on it. Expect to see Ice Shard for priority coupled with Earthquake for dual STAB. Stealth Rock and either Endeavour or Stone Edge fill the last two slots. Bronzong, Hippowdon, Swampert, Skarmory and Forretress easily handle it. Very easy lead for stall teams...not so easy for offensive teams. Metagross plays quite similarly to Azelf minus the special attacks part making Forretress and Skarmory perfect answers to it. In my humble opinion it isn't worth risking the firs turn OHKO on your Hippowdon if you have a Skarm or Fort on your team. Due to the increase of Protect on Swampert these days, Metagross is less inclined to Explode on it first turn in comparison to Hippowdon so feel free to SR turn 1 with Swampert. If you lead with a Heatran you might want to switxh nevertheless as Metagross will live any attack you throw most likely due to Occa Berry or Focus Sash and can ohko in return with the potential Earthquake as you lack Shuca Berry on a stall team and shouldnt be leading with Heatran anyways. If you lead with Rotom-H you can cripple with Will-o-wisp while Nidoqueen leads may have to switch as well on turn 2 after exchanging the almost guaranteed Stealth Rocks with Metagross. Roserade is quite tricky...just like poison ivy. If you lead with a weather inducer, you've won half the battle by auto breaking its focus sash. You could bring in a sleep absorber if your lead isn't threatened by Roserade's Lead Storm or HP Fire and then double back to your lead. Aggressive plays such as turn 1 attacks on Roserade can be risky especially if it also attacks turn 1 however can work if predicted right; still avoid this unless your team somehow CANNOT in any way deal with Roserade. Revealing 2-3 Pokemon to deal with Roserade is fine, remember the goal of stall isn't to conceal as many Pokemon as you would do with offense. Smeargle is the bane of stall. It has access to Spore and possesses decent speed making ti hard to stop it from setting up hazards. The best you can do is limit the amount of hazards laid down. You could let it spore your weather lead turn 1 if you are lazy and hope you wake up early but that is banking on RNG and while a turn 2 wake up allows you to kill Smeargle in exchange for only one hazard down, waking up on turn 5 once every hazard under the rainbow is thrown at you is a bad situation to be in. If you lead with Scarf Tar then you can simply bring it down to its sash as it either sets up Rocks or spores and then it dies to residual damage. Lead Gliscor can Taunt Smeargle and set up its on Rocks or pivot predicting a switch. A very bad lead for stall to face...thankfully its very rare. If you lead with Forry or Skarmory or Swampert you can let it spore you, burn a turn of sleep that same turn then bring in a spinner to bait the opponent to go into their Ghost-type and double to a Trapper. This can backfire it Smeargle decides to simply explode however this will limit it to ONLY one layer of hazards down which is what matters most. Snorlax is fat and can carry Fire Blast and Crunch along with Self Destruct making it really annoying however Skarmory should be able to take it on well, Hippowdon and Swampert can get rocks up however risk getting ohkoed by Self Destruct. Trying to bait a Self Destruct after turn 1 is what you should be looking for unless you possess Skarmory who can just set up on it and not get 2hkoed by Fire Blast if it even has it. Despite it being an unofficial lead and not on the Smogon dex, it is used sometimes and is worth warning about. It carries Lum Berry so avoid trying to sleep or burn it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Tank Leads When using stall, dealing with other bulky leads isn't as hard as offensive threats, however caution must be shown. Like your lead, their objective will be to set up hazards asap and perhaps phaze your lead to rack up residual damage or switch to a spinner / second entry hazard user. Whichever player can force the most switches in a stall matchup ends up with a huge advantage. Remember, a smart player will always get damage if they are about to get phased. Knowing how to play the spin and block game is what stall is about for the most part. I cannot teach everything there is know about stall in one guide however a typical team must have a way or two to deal with opposing bulky lategame sweepers such as Calm mind Clefable / CR Suicune / Snorlax / Jirachi etc. Steps which a stall vs stall game is all about: 1) Entry hazard initial phase / scouting 2) Preserving hazards + forcing switches 3) Continuing laying down hazards + attempting to spin 4) Getting into position to eliminate opposing Pokemon whcih stop your lategame sweeper / Getting into position to stop the opposing lategame sweeper which you have come to know. eg. Hippowdon vs Swampert Turn 1 you both get down Stealth Rock. Turn 2 a smart Swampert player will go for the Roar if they lack Hydro Pump (Next to NO lead Swampert run Hydro Pump so its safe) as Ice Beam does jack shit to Hippowdon, most of which are specially defensive these days. Therefore Hippowdon can get free damage here kind of baiting the Roar whilst losing nothing even if Swampert decides to Ice Beam. Remember, just because someone leads with a bulky tankish lead, doesn't mean the rest of their team will follow suit. It is common to see Hippowdon as a lead to semi stall which has an offensive win condition or two. Below is a list of the bulky leads you should be on the lookout for and how to best deal with them in general. - Hippowdon: The premier lead for stall teams and semi-stall. - Skarmory: Not too common in the lead position. - Swampert: Old school lead, still seen now and then. - Forretress: Less and less seen in the lead slot, and for good reason. - Tyranitar: Very recently has it seen its lead usage skyrocket. - Rotom-A: Very rare. - Celebi: Not super common but has its times. - Blissey: Very rare. - Gyarados: Rare. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Anti-leads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. Scouters Scouters have a pivot move such as U-Turn or Baton Pass and generally have some serious firepower to boot and/or decent coverage. These Pokemon are the most established scouters: - Flygon - Zapdos - Jirachi - Celebi - Scizor - Azelf - Gliscor - Infernape Some of the above Pokemon's lead role overlaps in two or more of the lead categories however they are still relevant.