Conni
katharsis
[OVERVIEW]
Although Offensive Porygon is less used than it's defensive counterpart, this Porygon set is still one to fear as people underestimate it and then fall victim to it. Porygon has one of the highest base Special Attack in the metagame with a base 85 Special Attack which is definitely to be feared in this offensive set. Porygon is also known to have a vast array of type coverage moves nearly hitting every Pokemon in the tier super-effectively. Porygon also has access to tricky non-damaging moves that can cripple certain Pokemon, not only does Porygon have a great movepool, it also has two abilities that it can utilize excellently: Trace and Download, which really fit Porygon offensively. Although it has all these great aspects, Porygon loses it's defensive capabilities and is very prone to the common Fighting-types in the game, it's also less viable than it's defensive counterpart due to Porygon being more known as a defensive Pokemon.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Tri Attack
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Trick / Hidden Power [Fighting]
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Trace
evs: 40 Def / 240 SpA / 200 Spe
ivs: 3 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
nature: Timid
[SET DETAILS]
Tri Attack is Porygon's most reliable STAB move, dealing significant damage and having a chance to inflict a burn, paralysis, or freezing it, which can be helpful at most times. Ice Beam is one of Porygon's powerful coverage moves, hitting a wide variety of Pokemon, such as Flying-, Dragon-, Grass-, and Ground-types, these types can be very commonly used in Little Cup so it makes this coverage move very useful. Shadow Ball is Porygon's main coverage move against Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Misdreavus and Abra. If you don't plan on going a fast Choice Scarf sweeper, you can always pass the Choice Scarf to cripple hazard setters or setup sweepers. Alternatively if you wish to keep the Choice Scarf to outspeed most of the metagame, then Hidden Power Fighting would be a more plausible option hitting Normal-, Dark-, Steel-, and Rock-types such as Pawniard and Magnemite effectively. Porygon's ability for this set: Trace, can be very useful, as if it traces Drilbur's or Sandshrew's Sand Rush during a sandstorm, it can outspeed them with Choice Scarf and it's Timid nature and use Ice Beam against them, if it loses it's Choice Scarf, it can most certainly take a hit and revenge kill with Ice Beam. A Timid nature and Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed the metagame, without it's Choice Scarf, Porygon is at least significantly faster than it's defensive counterpart. Choice Scarf Porygon's EV spread is very reasonable as well, it's 40 Def EV is to boost it's Defense stat by a little so it can take common physical attacks thrown at it, it's EVs mainly increase and focus on it's offensive capabilities, as it has 240 SpA EVs to hit very hard with it's special attacks, and it's 200 Spe EV allows it to be significantly fast even without it's Choice Scarf. Porygon's IVs also determine the use of it's Hidden Power Fighting, as certain ivs determine the type of Hidden Power, therefore making it's IVs 30 in every stat except for Atk being 3.
This set either makes Porygon a super fast attacker, outspeeding the metagame with it's insanely boosted Speed, or making it a significantly faster Porygon set, that can annoy setup sweepers, or entry hazard setters, or just Pokemon that are reliant on all of its moves with Trick. If you plan on passing your Chocie Scarf, wait until the right Pokemon is sent out, such as Nasty Plot Vullaby, then you can pass your Choice Scarf either choice-locking it's setup move, instantly crippling it, or another move which Porygon can tank, then Porygon can proceed to attack it with Ice Beam unless it switches out. If Porygon decides to keep the Choice Scarf and become a speed demon, it can sweep Pokemon with it's coverage moves, although it's locked to one, and must use it on Pokemon that it hits super effectively, if it doesn't hit super effectively or the opposing Pokemon resists it, it's better for Porygon to switch out and then switch in again when it can use another one of it's coverage moves to sweep opposing Pokemon that it can hit super effectively or a lot of damage.
Fighting-types are Porygon's main weakness, as they hit Porygon super effectively and Porygon has no coverage moves against them, so Pokemon that can deal with Fighting-types such as Misdreavus, Abra, or Doduo, which can cripple or deal massive damage to Fighting-types respectively. Pokemon that take little damage from Porygon, such as Lileep, Ferroseed, and Bronzor are also a pain, although they have to watch out for Trick, they can easily tank Porygon's coverage moves and can whittle it down with their status moves, Fire- or Fighting-type Pokemon such as Magby and Mienfoo can easily deal with these Pokemon helping Porygon's longevity so it can proceed to sweep later.
[SET]
name: Bulky Download Attacker
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Hidden Power [Fighting] / Thunderbolt
move 4: Recover
item: Eviolite
ability: Download
evs: 156 HP / 40 Def / 240 SpA / 40 Spe
ivs: 3 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
nature: Modest
[SET DETAILS]
Due to the Pomeg Berry glitch, Download and Tri Attack paired together is banned, resulting in this set being unable to use Porygon's favorite STAB move. To make up for that, however, Porygon utilizes Psychic instead as a powerful coverage move, hitting it's most dreaded checks: Fighting-types, it also hits Poison-types pretty well, such as Gastly. Ice Beam stays as Porygon's powerful coverage move, hitting Dragon-, Flying-, Grass-, and Ground-types being a powerful move, super effectively hitting a lot of Pokemon. Hidden Power Fighting is Porygon's main coverage move against Steel-, Dark-, Normal-, and Rock-type Pokemon such as Pawniard. Alternatively, instead of Hidden Power Fighting, Porygon can run Thunderbolt instead hitting common switch ins to Porygon such as Slowpoke or Shell Smash users such as Tirtouga, super effectively, most likely hitting them by surprise as the opponent might not suspect Thunderbolt. Lastly, Porygon utilizes Recover to recover health, greatly supporting it's longevity in conjunction with Eviolite, making it bulky, and can heal itself, not to mention this Porygon set also has good offensive capabilities making it very good. Eviolite is used as it can boost Porygon's bulkiness, allowing it to take most hits and retaliate with strong coverage moves, it also uses the bulk in conjunction with Recover so it can heal up and fight for longer periods of time. Porygon's EVs are well balanced between defense and offense, making it's defensive capabilities decent although the focus is aimed at it's offensive capabilities. With 156 HP and 40 Def EVs making it quite bulky, allowing to take on most physical attacks commonly thrown at it. It's 240 SpA and 40 Spe EVs makes Porygon hit very hard and a little bit faster than it's normal speed, outspeeding some Pokemon, but not as much as the Choice Scarf counterpart. The IVs are the same as the other variation as it allows Porygon to have and utilize Hidden Power Fighting. Porygon's ability is Modest, allowing it to hit very hard, dealing massive damage and at the same time having significant bulk, making it a promising attacker.
Porygon should only go against Pokemon it can handle with it's coverage moves. Porygon can nearly hit all Pokemon in the metagame super effectively, but it should only go against the ones that don't check it or pose a threat to it, so it can proceed to sweep what it isn't afraid of and let other Pokemon deal with the Pokemon that checks Porygon. Alternatively, once all of Porygon's checks have been dealt with, it could be a late-game sweeper, hitting nearly every Pokemon super effectively, fulfilling it's role as an efficient sweeper. Porygon should be switched into Pokemon with a higher Defense stat that it can handle, since Download will increase it's SpA, which gives Porygon the opportunity to hit even harder, a perfect Pokemon to switch into would be Vullaby, most preferably the special attacker variant, as it can tank any of Vullaby's moves, get a Download SpA boost, and unless it switches out, it will be OHKOed by Ice Beam, basically speaking, try to utilize Porygon's Download to get it a SpA boost so it can even deal more damage with it's already powerful SpA stat.
Porygon can blanket check nearly every Pokemon that isn't a Fighting- or Ghost-type, although it has Psychic, it shouldn't really go face-to-face against a Fighting-type as it can most likely take only 2 hits from a super effective Fighting-type STAB move, so Psychic should only be used if you expect a Fighting-type to be switched in. Although having Fighting-type checks such as Abra, Misdreavus, or Doduo, as they can either cripple or hit them super effectively, forcing them to switch out or be defeated. Entry hazards and status can whittle down and make Porygon vulnerable to later attacks thrown at it. Entry hazard setters such as Lileep and Bronzor and common status users such as Foongus can prove a pain to Porygon, so Pokemon that can deal with them would be much appreciated, entry hazard cleaners such as Staryu (Although it needs to watch out for Lileep's Giga Drain) are really effective as they can help maintain Porygon's longevity. Porygon can also be prone to special walls, so powerful physical attackers such as Pawniard and Mienfoo can mostly take care of that. This Porygon set doesn't run Shadow Ball, leaving it vulnerable to Pokemon like Misdreavus, so Dark-type teammates, such as Houndour, can help Porygon with taking care of Ghost-types. Spinblockers are also good teammates as entry hazards can leave Pokemon vulnerable to Porygon's powerful moves, so Ghost-type such as Misdreavus can be helpful, Pawniard is also a good teammate as it punishes Defog users with Defiant.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Alternatively, if Porygon wants to hit harder with Ice Beam, Blizzard can be a nice alternative dealing massive Ice-type damage, nearly OHKOing every Pokemon that is weak to Ice. Although Hidden Power Fighting is the most sensible option for Porygon, it can also run Hidden Power Grass to hit Pokemon such as Chinchou, which is can handle most things thrown at it, although having the support of another Grass-type is much better than Porygon sacrificing a great coverage move in Hidden Power Fighting.
Checks and Counters
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Porygon has some notable checks, despite the powerful coverage moves it has. Fighting-type Pokemon are the main checks to Porygon, super effectively attacking Porygon's weaker Defense stat with STAB can most likely 2HKO Porygon, Mienfoo or Timburr can easily do this job with Drain Punch. Although Porygon has Psychic, if it manages to predict the Fighting-type switches in, it can most likely take a hit and 2HKO most Mienfoo variants and Timburr.
Porygon also falls victim to entry hazards and statuses that leave it vulnerable or hinder it's longevity. Status moves such as Toxic or Spore can hinder Porygon's longevity or leave it vulnerable, respectively; Spore can be a big problem since the sleep counter resets every time you switch out in BW, so unless you have status curing moves, Porygon will have to take a lot of damage in order to wake up again. Entry hazards hinder Porygon's longevity, as each time it switches out, it becomes more vulnerable to powerful moves which can OHKO it on the spot.
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