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[Guide] Pokemon Showcase: Escartress [Competititve]
#1
Hello guys and welcome to my thread all about Escartress'! I'll show you all about the possible viable spreads revolving around Escartress, the Fortress Pokemon! I'll cover various spreads including a set that would make sets, so feel free to look through this showcase and pick the best possible moveset that would suit your battling tastes for thie majestic beauty :3


If you don't know what exactly is this Pokemon, it's this guy shown bellow:

[Image: latest?cb=20160816221431]

Escartress [Ground/Water]
Abilities: Sand Veil, Shell Armor, or Sand Stream [HA]


Her base stat is shown as below!



HP - 120
Attack - 60
Defense - 90
Sp. Atack - 110

Sp. Def - 70
Speed - 65

Base Total: 515


Defensive Spread: 120/90/70
Offensive Spread: 60/110/65


As shown above, Escartress is a pretty bulky Pokemon with extremely usable Special Attack. Overall, when compared to its cousin[Image: Spr_4d_423.png] Gastrodon [Image: Spr_4d_423E.png]in the original games, every other stat except Attack is noticeably higher than its Sinnoh cousin but Escartress lacks Gastrodon's memorable abilty; Storm Drain. With only a single weakness, Grass, Escartress also boasts resistances against some of the most common Types out there; Rock, Fire, and Steel. Escartress is truly an immensely defensive Pokemon that has all the capabilities of tanking hits, and delivering back damage. 


Her respective abilities, Sand Veil, Shell Armor and Sandstorm are usable abilities that has an in-game effect. Sand Veil increases the evasion of Escartress by 25%, Shell Armor negates all Critical attacks against it, and Sand Stream summons *Darude* Sandstorm into battle for 5 turns. As of now, Escartress is the only Pokemon that has Sand Stream in the game, which is one reason why I am giving her the spotlight for my next Pokemon Showcase.


Anyways, I guess that's enough introduction for now, let's talk about what it can do in battle!



[1] Gastrodon v2.0


Escartress w/ Rocky Helmet or Leftovers
Ability: Darude Sandstorm or Shell Armor

Nature: Calm
252 HP/ 252 Sp. Def/ 4 Def

Recover
Toxic
Surf
Earth Power/Ice Beam


Strategy: Boasting better bulk and damage than their Sinnoh cousins would be so proud off, Escartress can use this extremely simple set to effectively wall and counter the two most prominent Fire Types in the game; Inflagetah and Archilles w/ their Mega Evolutions respectively. See the fiery beasts on battle? Send Escartress out! Her bulk and resistance against their STAB Fire Moves such as Flame Impact will be tanked exceedingly well. If your opponent uses a Mega Archilles or HA Flareon, send Escartress out! Her HA, Sand Stream will negate the Drought and force the weather into a Sandstorm, preventing your opponents from benefitting from the extra boost in Fire damage. Toxic is there to abuse against every other Pokemon that Escartress can't deal super-effective damagae against, while stalling them out to let Toxic take place.

Side Notes: Escartress is very, very good at tanking the opponent's Fire Pokemon without much trouble of getting back at them or healing off her damage at all. Despite her very commendable role as a tank, her slow speed means that she is less likely to pull of Recover before the opponents make a move, so be wary of this and heal when necessary. The EVs in Special Defense can be tweaked to suit your need as well; more Defense EV can effectively make Inflategah and it's Mega incapable of dealing damage at all, while more Sp. Defense EVs would mean that it can tank M Archilles's solid Special Attacks better; all of these while receiving neutral damage to pretty much anything else mixed Inflagetah, Archilles, and their Mega counterpart can offer. Escartress also has the advantage of being able to tank what Yatagaryu can throw at it, receiving no damage at all from its signature 100% accuracy Thunder, while being able to decently tank off anything else it can throw while hitting it back with Earth Power. Toxic is a useful move to use against the opposing bulky Pokemon, especially bulky Water Pokemon such as Syrentide and her following Mega. Ice beam may also be prefered over Earth Power if you so prefer more coverage as well as a small fighting chance against Grass Pokemon.  If you dislike the Sandstorm weather or just can't seem to get your hand on HA Cassnail, you can opt to have Shell Armor which disables crits landing on Escartress. However, you would lack the advantage of being able to remove the weather and its effects that are in your opponent's favour. 


Checks and Counters: Taunters and Pokemon with strong Grass Moves are Escartress' weakness. With that said, pretty much every Grass Pokemon such as Metalynx, Coalith, Whimsicott and Ludicolo can wall and KO Escartress, of which Coalith and Ludicolo is something Escartress can't leave a dent on while Whimsicott also often comes with Priority Taunt. Because of this, Antarki is a great Pokemon that can accommodate to both sides of the game. Prankster Taunt Antarki with STAB Fire Blast can effectively deal with many of these Grass types, outspeeding Whimsicott's Taunt but has the slight drawback of being unable to deal as effectively Coalith and Ludicolo, of which only Ludicolo can hit back hard with STAB Hydro Pump or Scald. Escartress also has a big problem dealing against other bulky water of its own, therefore strong Grass or Electric Pokemon such as Yatagaryu, M Eletruxo, and Metalynx and be considered as well. While pretty much every Fire Type Pokemon can't be effective against Escartress, Frikitiki can throw out STAB Seed Bombs with its staggering base attack of 125 while outspeeding Escartress as well. Because of this, a fast Revenge killer like Harptera or Choice Scarf'd Pokemon such as Laissure and Baariette can do the job. Just be careful of the opposing Antarki's Hyponosis...



[2] Sandy Fortress


[b]Escartress [/b]w/ Smooth Rock or Leftovers
Ability: Darude Sandstorm

Nature: Calm
252 HP/ 4Def/ 252 Sp. DEF

Recover
Ice Beam
Surf/Coral Break
Reflect/Light Screen/Earth Power


Strategy: Escartress, having its the newfound position as the core of its Sand Team, will now play the role as the primary Sand-setter and Special Tank. When the situation calls or permits it, throw out Escartress to summon up Sandstorm that lasts 5 or 8 turns, depending on your held item. Sandstorm by itself doesn't do too much, but it can break Focus Sash users thanks to the constant damage loss per turn for non-steel/ground/rock Pokemon. However, when paired up with the right Pokemon, sandstorm weather will allow Pokemon such as Mega Drilgann to truly wreck havoc onto its opponents with its Sand Rush ability, and allow Rock types like Astronite receive a 50% Special Defense boost under Sandstorm.

Side Notes: Because of Escartress' position as the main setup for Sandstorm, maintaining Escartress' health is very important. Therefore, all of its EVs should be invested into its defensive spread to enhance its livelihood and chance for surviving all sorts of bashes and attacks thrown from the opponents upon its switch in. Escartress' access to Dual Screens also makes it favorable in extending the party's lifespan, however the need for a good STAB Water move and an Ice coverage in the sand team may be more indispensable than having access to DualScreens for this setup. Nevertheless, setting up either Reflect or Light Screen to accommodate to your team's weaker defenses is never a terrible idea to ensure your longelivity.

Checks and Counters: Aside from the usual "quadruple-y weak to Grass" fact,  Escartress can still be worn down easily due to her frequent switch-ins. Therefore, VoltTurn-ers such as Theriamp and Gliscor can help scout around for lurking dangers for Escartress before safely switching her in to bring out some sand. A secondary Sandstorm user may be desirable as well, as it can be predictable to constantly switch into Escartress for Sand set up, allowing your opponents to predict this and hit back hard with strong grass moves. A good Pokemon that can set up Sand safely while resisting Grass moves is Gararewl, who can also effectively set up Stealth Rocks against the opposing team while dealing with incoming Nucleons with its Sheer Force Iron Head.



[3] Fastress

Escartress w/ Life Orb or Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor or Darude Sandstorm
Nature: Timid or Modest
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Sp. Att/ 252 Speed


Rock Polish
Coral Break/Surf/Hydro Pump
Earth Power/ Ice Beam 
Ice Beam/ Recover


Strategy: Ever wanted a good Water/Ground Pokemon with more Offensive capabilities than defensive? Introducing to you; Fastress! With commendable bulk, good move coverage and great Sp Att., Escartress has the means necessary to get going, start wallbreaking and sweep.

Side Note: Since nobody can really expect a sweeping Escartress, it is definitely possible to throw out Escartress early, set up Rock Polish when your opponents did not expect it, and proceed to sweep from there; so as long as your opponents do not bear any Grass-types or bulky Water Pokemon in their party. For this to work, it is needless to say that Rock Polish is a must-have in order for Escartress to start outspeeding your opponents. Coral Break is preferred over Surf or Hydro Pump to wallbreak and hit enemies on their defensive stat, while the last two moves are really up to the players themselves: Earth Power is a strong STAB move that makes use of Escartress' Sp. Attack, Ice Beam has an amazing coverage, ad Recover is a great move on Escartress to have; she can easily Recover off her Life Orb recoils or sustained damage from battles which will allow her to stay on battle for longer.

Checks and Counters: Aside from the same ol' advice given back in set [1] and [2], a good wallbreaker that will take care of Escartress' checks and counters is a Frikitiki. A Life Orb'd or Scarf'd Iron Fist Frikitiki can really, really bruise the opponents' Grass Pokemon and Water Pokemon with its powerful STAB moves and mixed attacks. You can expect your Iron Fist Frikitiki to come packed with STAB Flare Blitz, Blaze Kick Lava Plume, Power Whip, Seed Bomb, Energy Ball etc. AND access to all 3 Elemental Punches as well as other coverage moves like Rock Slide, Brick Break, Iron Head and Knock Off. The movepool this monkey gets is so staggering, @MonkeyLord83 himself would approve of him 1000x more than he already has before we know it.


Honorable mentions: I'm writing these here because I assume most of you all would know how to assign the appropriate movesets and team based on the title of the Escartress set that I am about to leave. Plus, the metagame is still growing, I don't really see a need to make such detailed sets otherwise until then. Anyways, here are the details:

Escartress w/ Choice Specs can destroy teams, and works even better under the effects of the now-fixed Trick Room.

Escartress w/ Light Clay (Get on it, @Androziel! >:C) or Rocky Helm makes your Escartress and your team even bulkier than before. Good luck denting Escartress with Dual Screens on, or even dare to use Brick Break on her if she has Rocky Helmet on.



Apologies for leaving this guide half-baked! As mentioned before, I will assign the last two sets when the Competitive metagame is more stabalized. In the meanwhile, feel free to adopt, refer, or incooperate my Escartress into your Team and tell me if it works wonders! Admittedly, these guides do take some time to work on so... yeah XD

Until then, thanks for reading my guide! I will see you next time, hopefully with another guide in tow :3

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#2
Saw this by accident, Escartress is in my main team ever since i caught a cassnail.
Ability: Sandstorm or Shellarmor(<in my case, i hate crits)
SPDef HP EV with SPDef nature
or
Def HP EV with Def nature

Item: Rocky helmet or Leftovers

Works pretty good and will annoy physicals. Even with 0 Def EV or nature Escartress tanks enough to Recover from it to get a good use for Rockyhelmet.
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#3
Well well well, a guide on a pokemon that would could have been my next choice. Eh, it takes away extra work for me anyway, so kudo for that, and making a great guide in general! Gonna have one for my Archilles team, eventually.
Like the wind, I come and go as I please... but I am always there to provide a comforting breeze.

Member of Team PUNishment. Pun-pare for Struggle, make it Double Team!

Heart Phantom is my OTP~ Heart

Online ID: 000650
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#4
(09-24-2016, 03:29 PM)Jak Wrote: Saw this by accident, Escartress is in my main team ever since i caught a cassnail.
Ability: Sandstorm or Shellarmor(<in my case, i hate crits)
SPDef HP EV with SPDef nature
or
Def HP EV with Def nature

Item: Rocky helmet or Leftovers

Works pretty good and will annoy physicals. Even with 0 Def EV or nature Escartress tanks enough to Recover from it to get a good use for Rockyhelmet.
Almost forgot about the existance of Rocky Helmet. Thanks for pointing out!

(09-24-2016, 05:14 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Well well well, a guide on a pokemon that would could have been my next choice. Eh, it takes away extra work for me anyway, so kudo for that, and making a great guide in general! Gonna have one for my Archilles team, eventually.

I was wondering what you were talking about until i saw your most recent showcase XD Oops. Oh well, glad you liked it. Will work on it asap after I get proper sleep. Perhaps once I am done with it, you can contribute to this thread as well, since you have had intentions of making an escartress showcase :3

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#5
Eh, I decided to do it on a lark, so I didn't have any plans for it. Besides, I got Dramsama to write about, and boy is it an interesting pokemon to write about...

Oh, and if you want a suggestion on what pokemon to do a guide next on (if you want to keep doing this, I assume), they why not Chimaconda? Both its abilities are interesting, and I like your ideas, so I think there is potential for the little chimera!
Like the wind, I come and go as I please... but I am always there to provide a comforting breeze.

Member of Team PUNishment. Pun-pare for Struggle, make it Double Team!

Heart Phantom is my OTP~ Heart

Online ID: 000650
Reply
#6
Not to be rude, but these sets seem pretty redundant. The only difference between the two is one of the sets runs Toxic and the other runs Ice Beam (apart from interchangeable EV and item differences). Also, Shell Armor isn't very good, further reducing the purpose of having two sets. Just my opinion, but you should try to keep an eye out for redundancy like this in general, as I noticed a bit of the same thing in the Antarki guide. Looking forward for the rest of the guide, maybe an offensive spread to round things out.
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#7
(09-24-2016, 09:02 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Eh, I decided to do it on a lark, so I didn't have any plans for it. Besides, I got Dramsama to write about, and boy is it an interesting pokemon to write about...

Oh, and if you want a suggestion on what pokemon to do a guide next on (if you want to keep doing this, I assume), they why not Chimaconda? Both its abilities are interesting, and I like your ideas, so I think there is potential for the little chimera!

Chimaconda was indeed something I was interested in writing. Both abilities are amazing, and its hard to predict what an opponent Chimaconda will do until it is actually sent out in battle which is always something I like having to see around. Unpredictability ftw! XD

Anyways, good luck with Dramsama. Her recent nerf was really really big, and so even if I wanna tak about it, I would feel a little half-arsed cause a Pokemon that I liked so much got nerfed this hard >.< Still wouldnt deter me from using one, though! 

Will look forward to your Dramsama showcase :3

(09-24-2016, 09:07 PM)poweroftibarn Wrote: Not to be rude, but these sets seem pretty redundant.  The only difference between the two is one of the sets runs Toxic and the other runs Ice Beam (apart from interchangeable EV and item differences).  Also, Shell Armor isn't very good, further reducing the purpose of having two sets.  Just my opinion, but you should try to keep an eye out for redundancy like this in general, as I noticed a bit of the same thing in the Antarki guide.  Looking forward for the rest of the guide, maybe an offensive spread to round things out.

I agree with ya, but there are two main reasons why I made it so-ever redundant:

[1] Most of us here in this community are NEW to the game, or even if they aren't half baked, they may no know nothing about Competitive. Because of this, I need to use simple-to-understand words, more details, and a seemingly step-by-step note on how to use them effectively. I wouldn't be labeling my showcases "Guides" otherwise because of this fact.

[2] The sets are similar, but their role with their sets are not. For an example, in set [1], Escartress mainly acts as a counter to those speedy fiery devils. And because I respect the fact that some players can have it hard finding cassnails with HA, I gave them more free will and space in this set to allow room for Shell Armor, while putting a disclaimer that it wouldnt be effective against M Archilles and HA Flareon otherwise. In set [2], Escartress' reason for being there is to play her role as the primary sand setter, and therefore you need to switch your playstyle a little to adjust to this fact. When is a good time to switch in? When is a good time to stay in, Recover, or Attack? Loosing Escartress in any sand team is a huge, huge problem if that happens, thus why EV distributions of this set is similar to that of set [1] as well. In the end, I showcase movesets of similar tastes, but they have very, very different details about how to use them.

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#8
(09-24-2016, 09:09 PM)Reeveelution Wrote:
(09-24-2016, 09:02 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Eh, I decided to do it on a lark, so I didn't have any plans for it. Besides, I got Dramsama to write about, and boy is it an interesting pokemon to write about...

Oh, and if you want a suggestion on what pokemon to do a guide next on (if you want to keep doing this, I assume), they why not Chimaconda? Both its abilities are interesting, and I like your ideas, so I think there is potential for the little chimera!

Chimaconda was indeed something I was interested in writing. Both abilities are amazing, and its hard to predict what an opponent Chimaconda will do until it is actually sent out in battle which is always something I like having to see around. Unpredictability ftw! XD

Anyways, good luck with Dramsama. Her recent nerf was really really big, and so even if I wanna tak about it, I would feel a little half-arsed cause a Pokemon that I liked so much got nerfed this hard >.< Still wouldnt deter me from using one, though! 

Will look forward to your Dramsama showcase :3

(09-24-2016, 09:07 PM)poweroftibarn Wrote: Not to be rude, but these sets seem pretty redundant.  The only difference between the two is one of the sets runs Toxic and the other runs Ice Beam (apart from interchangeable EV and item differences).  Also, Shell Armor isn't very good, further reducing the purpose of having two sets.  Just my opinion, but you should try to keep an eye out for redundancy like this in general, as I noticed a bit of the same thing in the Antarki guide.  Looking forward for the rest of the guide, maybe an offensive spread to round things out.

I agree with ya, but there are two main reasons why I made it so-ever redundant:

[1] Most of us here in this community are NEW to the game, or even if they aren't half baked, they may no know nothing about Competitive. Because of this, I need to use simple-to-understand words, more details, and a seemingly step-by-step note on how to use them effectively. I wouldn't be labeling my showcases "Guides" otherwise because of this fact.

[2] The sets are similar, but their role with their sets are not. For an example, in set [1], Escartress mainly acts as a counter to those speedy fiery devils. And because I respect the fact that some players can have it hard finding cassnails with HA, I gave them more free will and space in this set to allow room for Shell Armor, while putting a disclaimer that it wouldnt be effective against M Archilles and HA Flareon otherwise. In set [2], Escartress' reason for being there is to play her role as the primary sand setter, and therefore you need to switch your playstyle a little to adjust to this fact. When is a good time to switch in? When is a good time to stay in, Recover, or Attack? Loosing Escartress in any sand team is a huge, huge problem if that happens, thus why EV distributions of this set is similar to that of set [1] as well. In the end, I showcase movesets of similar tastes, but they have very, very different details about how to use them.
How was Dramsama nerfed? I kinda need to know this, so...
Like the wind, I come and go as I please... but I am always there to provide a comforting breeze.

Member of Team PUNishment. Pun-pare for Struggle, make it Double Team!

Heart Phantom is my OTP~ Heart

Online ID: 000650
Reply
#9
When thinking of way to counter M-Archilles, the newly born beast, I certainly overlooked this Pokemon. I just took Sand Stream as a setter of sand teams, but wow it can be used to reduce damage from M-Archilles!

I would use it as a special wall who can attack well, it's main target is Archilles and Yatagaryu but also want to aim Inflagetah too. I'm not good at these calculations, but do you need some EVs in Defence to endure two hits of Inflagetah's Extreme Speed? Maybe with it having Choice Band?

As a special wall, it would be great if it can be sent against M-Syrentide too, it can Toxic-Recover and beat it if it endure two hits from Pixilate Hyper Voice, and I think that's not possible. Or is it?
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#10
(09-24-2016, 09:52 PM)Lord Windos Wrote:
(09-24-2016, 09:09 PM)Reeveelution Wrote:
(09-24-2016, 09:02 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Eh, I decided to do it on a lark, so I didn't have any plans for it. Besides, I got Dramsama to write about, and boy is it an interesting pokemon to write about...

Oh, and if you want a suggestion on what pokemon to do a guide next on (if you want to keep doing this, I assume), they why not Chimaconda? Both its abilities are interesting, and I like your ideas, so I think there is potential for the little chimera!

Chimaconda was indeed something I was interested in writing. Both abilities are amazing, and its hard to predict what an opponent Chimaconda will do until it is actually sent out in battle which is always something I like having to see around. Unpredictability ftw! XD

Anyways, good luck with Dramsama. Her recent nerf was really really big, and so even if I wanna tak about it, I would feel a little half-arsed cause a Pokemon that I liked so much got nerfed this hard >.< Still wouldnt deter me from using one, though! 

Will look forward to your Dramsama showcase :3

(09-24-2016, 09:07 PM)poweroftibarn Wrote: Not to be rude, but these sets seem pretty redundant.  The only difference between the two is one of the sets runs Toxic and the other runs Ice Beam (apart from interchangeable EV and item differences).  Also, Shell Armor isn't very good, further reducing the purpose of having two sets.  Just my opinion, but you should try to keep an eye out for redundancy like this in general, as I noticed a bit of the same thing in the Antarki guide.  Looking forward for the rest of the guide, maybe an offensive spread to round things out.

I agree with ya, but there are two main reasons why I made it so-ever redundant:

[1] Most of us here in this community are NEW to the game, or even if they aren't half baked, they may no know nothing about Competitive. Because of this, I need to use simple-to-understand words, more details, and a seemingly step-by-step note on how to use them effectively. I wouldn't be labeling my showcases "Guides" otherwise because of this fact.

[2] The sets are similar, but their role with their sets are not. For an example, in set [1], Escartress mainly acts as a counter to those speedy fiery devils. And because I respect the fact that some players can have it hard finding cassnails with HA, I gave them more free will and space in this set to allow room for Shell Armor, while putting a disclaimer that it wouldnt be effective against M Archilles and HA Flareon otherwise. In set [2], Escartress' reason for being there is to play her role as the primary sand setter, and therefore you need to switch your playstyle a little to adjust to this fact. When is a good time to switch in? When is a good time to stay in, Recover, or Attack? Loosing Escartress in any sand team is a huge, huge problem if that happens, thus why EV distributions of this set is similar to that of set [1] as well. In the end, I showcase movesets of similar tastes, but they have very, very different details about how to use them.
How was Dramsama nerfed? I kinda need to know this, so...

Dramsama and its Mega received a huge nerf in stats. That is all to it really, but it does loose out its amazing 120 base Defense and Sp. Defense as a Mega.

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