[Competitive] Any ideas for Pokemon that can help Blastoise in the OU format?

So Blastoise is my favorite Pokemon, and I would love to have a gen 8 team for OU with him as the ace.

Blastoise set I have in mind
Rash Nature
Item: Life Orb
Max IVs
4 Atk, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd
-Shell Smash
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Earthquake

Earthquake purely there to hit unsuspecting Heatran or anything soft on the defensive side that is weak to Ground. I'm open to suggestions for this set as well.

I basically want a supporting cast to support my boy. Any help is appreciated.

I think Blastoise is underwhelming as a Shell Smash sweeper and would generally be outclassed by Cloyster and even Omastar in the current OU environment. That being said, if you wish to use it there is some interesting tech that could make it more viable. Earthquake really serves no purpose on this set as Heatran is already easily dispatched by a boosted Hydro Pump and as a coverage move on an uninvested stat it's still pathetically weak even after a boost. It also forces you to run a Rash nature which isn't ideal. Blastoise would really prefer to run Modest. I have seen some tech with Terrain Pulse alongside a terrain setter to provide a pseudo-Weather Ball for Blastoise. You'd likely want to run Lele or Koko for this to give you Toxapex coverage, and you'd wanna give them a Terrain Extender. All in all though I don't really think it's worth it. Have you considered running Blastoise in a lower tier with a more hospitable environment?

I have to echo Tsk's sentiments. Blastoise is going to have a bad time. There's just nothing it offers that something else doesn't already do much better. As far as I'm aware, it's not even that viable in NU, its actual tier.

Edit: Upon further research, it does weirdly have a niche in RU though. Personally though, I think the Spinner/Pivot version is better.

Rose Oni said:

So Blastoise is my favorite Pokemon, and I would love to have a gen 8 team for OU with him as the ace.

Blastoise set I have in mind
Rash Nature
Item: Life Orb
Max IVs
4 Atk, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd
-Shell Smash
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Earthquake

Earthquake purely there to hit unsuspecting Heatran or anything soft on the defensive side that is weak to Ground. I'm open to suggestions for this set as well.

I basically want a supporting cast to support my boy. Any help is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hello Rose Oni,

I don't know how much knowledge you have when it comes to competitive battling or which resources out there you're familiar with but, I would like to point you in the direction of three that I think would help you out in your endeavor. They are as followed: https://www.smogon.com/, https://pvpoke.com/, and http://pokemonforever.com/teambuilder.php.

Personally, I like to use a bulky variant myself: Modest Nature EVs: 184 HP / 252 SpA / 72 Spe.

In regards to your set I would change the rash to a mild nature - a water types weaknesses are grass and electric and % wise most of the time the grass/electric moves used against them are special. Rash is a nature that hinders Special Defense which would put more of the disadvantage against the mon in those circumstances. The below is an alternative to your set.

Blastoise @ Life Orb
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Shell Smash
- Earthquake
- Dark Pulse
- Hydro Pump

Also, Showdown's damage calculator is another valuable tool when constructing an EV spread to figure out the precise EVs to allocate to each stat. Good luck with your team building!

Blastoise is always a nice tank water type PLAN B, thanks to some banning in OU and UU of better water types.

even if Swampert or Lapras are the most competitive water tanks...Blastoise had Swift Swim :)

Blastoise has literally one one thing other bulky waters do not have: Rapid Spin. This was a bigger deal prior to gen 6. Blastoise would be OK as a defensive rapid spinner, but the issue is that it doesn't have much in the way of offenses or defenses. I wish that it had regenerator or something.

In ou probably not, in lower tiers you might be able to get away with like Terrain Pulse, Surf or Pump, ice Beam + Shell Smash with Electric Terrain support along side it aka Pincurchin. Ice, water, electric has decent coverage and you actually most beat water types with it.

That or you could run some Rapid Spin/Scald/Toxic/Protect defensive set for support. Might be able to fit Life Dew or whatever on there too if you want some slight longevity lol.