Pok�mon of the Week

Gorebyss, The South Sea Pok�mon. It lives at the bottom of the sea. In the springtime, its pink body turns more vivid for some reason. Its pink body becomes more vivid with the rise of water temperatures in the springtime. It siphons the body fluids of prey through its thin, tubular mouth. Its light pink body color turns vivid when it finishes feeding. Its swimming form is exquisitely elegant. With its thin mouth, it feeds on seaweed that grows between rocks.

Gorebyss has never been very good in standard play. Its only real use was as a Swift Swim Rain Dance sweeper but it didn't even do that very well when there were things like Kingdra, Omastar, Kabutops, Ludicolo and Qwilfish. Oh well I guess it can try to Baton Pass Iron Defense and Amnesia.. if you're crazy. Black and White didn't bring many new tools for Gorebyss. Yeah Politoed gets Drizzle but that was banned alongside Swift Swim. Ok it gets Scald which is nice.. Wait, what's that? It gets Shell Smash? A move that gives Gorebyss a free Nasty Plot, Swords Dance and Agility boost? ... you say it can use Baton Pass as well? Suddenly Gorebyss went from useless to one of the most influential Pokemon to have ever existed.

Swift Swim: Doubles your speed in the Rain. While Swift Swim is banned on the same teams that run Drizzle you can still use it alongside Rain Dance and it lets Gorebyss become a ruthless nightmare against opposing Rain teams.
Hydration: At the end of each turn it's raining your status problems are healed. Cool in theory but Gorebyss doesn't care much about status. Its goal is to Baton Pass apocalypse level of firepower to something else. Its workable if you want to use Gorebyss on a team with Politoed I guess.

- Shell Smash
- Substitute
- Surf / Scald
- Baton Pass
Item Attached: White Herb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Easily Gorebyss's most dangerous set. The idea is to Shell Smash against something that can't hurt you like Scarf Politoed or Choice Band Scizor and set up a sweep for something else. White Herb restores the defenses lost from Shell Smash meaning you are less vulnerable to Extremespeed and Bullet Punch. Using this with Light Screen and Reflect is best as even with HP EVs and White Herb Gorebyss can't take hits too well. Substitute can be used to protect against Thunder Wave Blissey or Latios Draco Meteor. Better yet if you can successfully Baton Pass a Shell Smash with Substitute up the game is usually over. Surf is the better offensive move as it hits almost 20% harder than Scald. Scald is nice for burning things like Ferrothorn and Salamence but if you actually need to attack instead of Baton Passing you might as well just use Surf. Surf is better for hitting Roar / Whirlwind users like Skarmory, Heatran and Donphan. Good things to Baton Pass Shell Smash to are strong offensive Pokemon like Salamence, Jirachi, Latios and Metagross.

- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Item Attached: White Herb / Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim / Hydration
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Of course we can't ignore Gorebyss's huge 114 base special attack. Its capable of sweeping on its own. After a Shell Smash its speed and offenses rocket up to incredible levels. Even Blissey can't stand in the way of a +2 Hydro Pump for very long. Ice Beam destroys anything weak to it while HP Grass rounds off the coverage by punishing water types, especially Gastrodon. Swift Swim is the preferred ability as Gorebyss is nearly unstoppable against Rain teams (or even in the presence of your own Rain Dance) but Hydration can be used alongside Drizzle Politoed for some insane damage. Even Blissey can be KOed in one shot after some Spikes damage with Rain support. While Gorebyss can hit super-hard its hard to think of a reason to use it when Cloyster and Omastar exist. Both Pokemon have better speed, defenses and movepools to work with. Gorebyss isn't weak to Mach Punch though so I guess that's.. something.

- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Item Attached: Damp Rock / Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Ok, it had to be done. A Rain Dance Swift Swim set. Easily one of the worst Swift Swimmers and a terrible use Gorebyss's destructive potential. It does have a few advantages over the other sets though. Rain Dance doesn't lower Gorebyss's defenses and it also supports other Pokemon on your team (though they would probably rather get a free Shell Smash..).

Gorebyss
Max speed and HP with Timid nature on the Baton Pass set. You need as much speed as you can to outrun Choice Scarf Pokemon while the HP EVs are useful for making sure you live long enough to Baton Pass. Offensive sets just want max speed and Special Attack.

Gorebyss's movepool is terrible. It mostly learns random water moves. Confuse Ray, Iron Defense / Amnesia, Signal Beam, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Hidden Power Electric, Hyper Beam
Confuse Ray can potentially be used on the Baton Pass slot for some hilarious levels of pain. Assuming they actually hit themselves in their confusion, of course.
Iron Defense / Amnesia can both be Baton Passed. Not very useful though since you are bound to get Critical hit. Could be funny if you Baton Pass to something with Stored Power though.
Signal Beam can be used over Ice Beam on most sets if you REALLY want to hurt Celebi while still doing damage to the Lati twins and Hydreigon. It can confuse too, but is usually a bad option.
Shadow Ball hits Jellicent and Starmie harder than HP Grass but isn't really useful otherwise.
There's always Psychic but that hits.. Tentacruel.
Hidden Power Electric is nice to blow away Gyarados but its pretty much the only thing your other moves don't cover as well.
Hyper Beam is.. yeah, Gorebyss's movepool is THAT bad. Don't use Hyper Beam.

You can try to Shell Smash sweep as Drizzle + Swift Swim are not banned together in doubles / triples. +2 Surf in the Rain is pretty scary and with Drizzle boosting your speeds you will outrun literally everything, even Choice Scarf Deoxys S.

Shell Smash Baton Passing is Gorebyss's best trait so you want to focus on that. Leading with Reflect / Light Screen Espeon is a good start as it makes the Eel much more difficult to KO. Memento Dugtrio and Latios also work similarly, sacrificing themselves for a guaranteed set up. Good things to Baton Pass Shell Smash to are strong offensive Pokemon like Salamence, Jirachi, Latios and Metagross.

This is pretty difficult as Gorebyss hits REALLY hard and when against something it can't beat it can just Baton Pass to something else. The best outright counter to Baton Passing Gorebyss is Choice Scarf Rotom Wash. You just barely outrun it after a Shell Smash and can OHKO with Volt Switch even if it's holding White Herb. Strong attackers like Latios and Haxorus can just pound Gorebyss's recipient with super powered hits while surviving +2 Surf. Roar Gyarados fears little from Gorebyss's common moves and can quickly Roar it away. Once Gorebyss tries to Shell Smash once it becomes much less of a threat as the White Herb has been used up meaning if it tries to Shell Smash again its defenses will be shot apart.
Offensive Shell Smashers are easier to handle. Most are walled to the end by Ferrothorn and can be easily picked off by most Choice Scarfers. Be very careful if you are running Rain as you will double its speed and boost its offenses to incredible levels. Priority moves are good for wearing it down and things like Blissey and Chansey can Paralyze Gorebyss, permanently ruining it.

Pre-Evolution Corner

Clamperl has always been that weak little clam that people used on gimmick Trick Room teams that didn't actually work. Sure it has as much Special Attack as Deoxys Attack, but its defenses are about as good as Dugtrio's. But as with pretty much every Pokemon to get this move, Clamperl gained a HUGE boost when it was given Shell Smash. The concept of Clamperl shedding its shell and going on a rampage is also hilarious in its own right.

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Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Evolve Clamperl.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.

Colosseum/XD:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Clamperl (Diamond/Pearl)
Trade from Diamond/Pearl/HeartGold/SoulSilver (Platinum)

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Clamperl

Black/White:
Route 4 (White)
Evolve Clamperl (Black)