Ampharos

[Cheesey]

So I catch a Modest Mareep and decide that maybe I'll EV train this one up properly given that it's got an ideal nature and Ampharos is my favourite pokemon... was wondering if I could have a second opinion on it though..? Forgive me if my EVs don't add up properly, I'm not used to this really.


Ampharos
@ ???
Modest

128 HP / 0 Att / 0 Def / 252 Sp Att / 128 Sp Def / 0 Spd

Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Signal Beam
Light Screen


...so er, is this ideal? Any suggestions for an item? :s

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Oh hay there fellow Mareep family enthusiast My Ampharos is quiet, but meh, I was too lazy to go looking for a modest one, and anyway it was a trade present :x

The only difference in my Amphy moveset is Focus Blast over Light Screen, but in my experience, that move has an AWFUL record of missing when you don't want it to miss (70 accuracy... and you can't even boost it with weather like Thunder) so yes don't be silly like me and think you can pwn Rock pogeys just because you have a fighting special-based move... (I realize I'm not being very helpful here... I'm sorry :x)

Item: I'm having a Quick Claw on Amphy right now; it's saved me (or rather, I lucked out) many a time when slow-as-molasses Amphy would've died just cos it's slow as hell, but I think there could be better items on it. I'm not sure.

[Blademaster]

Thunder Wave is, in my opinion, a useless move for a Pokemon with zero Speed. Why not try Hidden Power Grass or Water instead?

[Phoenixsong]

Ah, yes, but Thunder Wave kind of fixes the low Speed problem. If only Earthquake weren't around, Thunder Wave on Amphy would be perfect. All the same, yes, it needs Speed EVs. Splitting EVs 252/128/128 very rarely helps anything. I'd go with 252 SA, 252 Spd and 4 HP, really. That'll allow Ampharos to get optimum use out of that Thunder Wave. Thunder Wave can also force switches. A Quick Claw's also probably not a bad idea, either.

And Light Screen... eh... not always that useful. Earthquake is more of a threat than anything else Ampharos will face, and halving special damage won't save it from that. I'd also say HP Grass/Ice/Water, but as there's a high chance you won't be able to get that at a decent power or even with the right type, I'd look for something else. Actually, I'd recommend Power Gem if you can't get a Grass/Water/Ice Hidden Power with base power 60 or more. If you paralyze someone's Pokémon and they switch in, Power Gem could help catch whatever's coming in--say, a Salamence, for example.

As for Focus Blast... yeah, not the greatest move. You can always try the Wide Lens item, which increases accuracy. I'm not sure exactly how much of an increase it is, but I believe it'd make Focus Blast about 80%. I could be wrong, but it makes it better than 70% for sure.

Hopefully that was actually readable and helpful. Eh.

[Perfect Chaos]

Yeah, even though Ampharos doesn't have much in terms of Speed, Thunder Wave will still play a MAJOR role in helping Amphy out. I think, this set-up might work:

Ampharos@???
Quiet (-Spd, +Sp. Atk) | Static
EVs: No idea here

Thunderbolt/Thunder
Focus Punch/HP-Ice/HP-Water
Substitute/Filler/Rain Dance
Thunder Wave

Well, I guess I got 3 sets for you to work with. I heard Sub-Punching usually works well for Amphy, since he has 90 BP for HP, so that's pretty good and will help keep the Sub up for some time. His Atk, while average, will still allow for Focus Punch to do some damage.

The other set is using Thunderbolt and HP-Ice to do as much damage as possible. I'm not sure what else to throw on him, so that's why I left it as filler.

The final set is your standard Thunder-Dancer. Nothing special here

So yeah, see what you want to use and just go with I guess. Sorry, not much help with EVs

[Blademaster]

Yeah, but see my gripe is that Thunder Wave just slows the opponent down a bit - it doesn't lower their Speed to zero. So even with it, Thunder Wave won't give Ampharos a first-hit bonus. So what's the point?

[Cheesey]

Yeah, but see my gripe is that Thunder Wave just slows the opponent down a bit - it doesn't lower their Speed to zero. So even with it, Thunder Wave won't give Ampharos a first-hit bonus. So what's the point?

Doesn't paralysis halve their speed? There are a lot of pokemon who'll suffer from that given that speed isn't one of their higher stats, so that's still pretty significant. And plus there's however much of a chance that they'll be fully paralyzed each turn. Combined with a Quick Claw, it could still prove pretty useful for a slow pokemon like Ampharos.

[Perfect Chaos]

I wouldn't rely on Quick Claw that much honestly. Its success rate is too small for it to be heavily relied upon. However, Thunder Wave, more often than not, is going to still allow Amphy to have a first-turn shot, so its still worth having it on him.

In fact, I daresay almost all Electric Pokemon would have Thunder Wave standard as part of their moveset, regardless how high their Speed is, because Paralysis is such a damn useful Status Effect.

-Sean

EDIT: Not to mention damn annoying as well