Underrated Pokemon You Should Try

The fourth generation has ended, with an exciting run to be fondly remembered by all who
played it. But even though the tiers are set in stone and almost every option seems to have
been discussed to death, that doesn't mean that there aren't any opportunities to try
something new to keep fourth generation play alive and fresh. In this column, I will be talking
about potential uses for underrated Pokemon, in this instance Torkoal.

Yes, that Torkoal. The Fire tortoise with badly placed static smoke in every single one of its
sprites. One of those Pokemon that doesn't evolve and people don't seem to give a crap
about. When I looked at Torkoal, I found several qualities I liked. Torkoal's stats are not bad at
all, being very similar to Forretress, with the main differences of being slower but packing a
greater Special Attack stat. 140 base Defense is of particular note, setting it apart from the
vast majority of its fellow Fire types and allowing it to tank physical hits despite common
weaknesses. When considering Torkoal's strengths and weaknesses, a lead is its best
potential role. Torkoal gets Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, both important moves for a utility
lead. It itself is susceptible to Stealth Rock, which is fortunately a nonfactor for a lead. Now,
on to the set!

Torkoal @ Lum Berry / Leftovers

Trait: White Smoke
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Overheat
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion

The first thing I'm going to say is not to waste your time with Lava Plume. Don't rely on trying
to burn shit with it; Overheat is far more efficient. For example, it allows Torkoal to defeat non-
Occa Berry Metagross one-on-one. With this spread, Torkoal will survive two Earthquakes
from the standard lead Metagross, while Overheat 2HKOs it. Lum Berry is recommended over
Focus Sash, largely to guarantee that barring a critical hit, you will be able to set up Stealth
Rock against attacking lead Machamp and take it out the next turn with Explosion. The
standard 248 Atk Adamant Dynamicpunch does 29.7% - 35.2% to Torkoal's massive base
defense: even a 3HKO is not guaranteed! Stone Edge deals 39.5% - 47.1%, failing to 2HKO.
After you lay down your guaranteed Stealth Rock, you can explode on Machamp (which deals
a hefty 98.7% - 116.3%; there's a small chance it won't OHKO but that's only if your opponent
gets very lucky). Be very careful, as your opponent may predict the Explosion beforehand and
send in a Ghost type, rendering your efforts useless. If you are playing UU, you can substitute
Lum Berry for Leftovers although I would keep Lum Berry just in case.

Weaknesses:
Unfortunately, like all leads, Torkoal has several big weaknesses. The most common of these
are Aerodactyl, Rhyperior, and screening leads. Aerodactyl has super effective Rock STAB
(Stone Edge 2HKOs Torkoal), Taunt to stop Stealth Rock, and resists Overheat and
Explosion. While an Overheat followed by Explosion will KO Aerodactyl, you will more often
than not be unable to set up Stealth Rock and be stuck in an unfavorable position. In UU,
while Rhyperior very rarely leads, it can freely switch into you and dangerously set up Rock
Polish or Swords Dance. Due to its low speed and mediocre offenses, Torkoal also functions
poorly against screening leads and could potentially open up your team to heavy offense
teams that make use of them. In general, be wary of Rock- and Water-types and Pokemon
that resist the Overheat/Explosion combo.

Testing:
Now, I wouldn't be theorymoning up a lead without actually testing it! I tested Torkoal on the
fourth generation OU and UU ladders on Pokemon Online and for both I used a generic bulky
offense team. In practice, you should obviously put more thought into your teams but the point
was to test Torkoal's effectivity. In OU, I found that Torkoal worked exactly as expected
against Machamp and Metagross. When it did not die, it was quite useful to bring out against
these and other threats and threaten to kill something with Explosion. If the opponent
switched out their lead, I was also able to rack up a few surprise kills. For instance, a few
people switched to Gyarados, only to meet an untimely death to Explosion (Adamant 252 Atk
Waterfall with Life Orb does 59.3% - 70.3%, while Explosion OHKOs almost every variant of
Gyarados with Stealth Rock down). Torkoal scores less KOs in UU because leads tend to be
bulkier. It was also often Tricked Choice items but it still served as a largely dependable, bulky
lead. On the flipside, Heatran was a royal pain in the arse. While Earth Power fails to OHKO,
it will nab a free Flash Fire boost and trample all over you while you do pathetic damage with
Explosion or are forced to switch out. Most special-based threats also trample all over you so
tread with caution.
Overall, Torkoal functioned like a standard Stealth Rocking lead. I did not feel like it was a
burden on my team but at the same time it is not something you should use if you plan on
topping the ladder in either tier. While it does not set itself apart from common leads in any
significant way (besides the fact that it sits in NU), it works and preforms its role well.

Conclusion:
Why should you use Torkoal? Admittedly, there is not much of a reason to use it over any
other preferred lead you are running at the moment, but it is far from useless. It has massive
defense that allows it to survive hits from some of OU's and UU's biggest and meanest to do
its job and give your opponent a nice parting gift in Explosion. If you need a little spice in your
team, and you're tired of using the same six generic Pokemon, give Torkoal a try!