Pok�mon of the Week

Spiritomb, The Forbidden Pok�mon. Its constant mischief and misdeeds resulted in it being bound to an Odd Keystone by a mysterious spell.It was formed by uniting 108 spirits. It has been bound to the Odd Keystone to keep it from doing any mischief. It was bound to a fissure in an odd keystone as punishment for misdeeds 500 years ago. A Pok�mon that was formed by 108 spirits. It is bound to a fissure in an odd keystone.

To end our line of 5th generation Pokemon of the Weeks, and as it coincides with Halloween, our traditional Ghost type pick landed on Spiritomb. Spiritomb has the very rare typing of Ghost / Dark which has no weaknesses (before X & Y) and several immunities and resistances, making it a pretty good defensive typing, which paired with Spiritomb's decent Defense stats makes Spiritomb relatively bulky. Unfortunately there isn't too much good about Spiritomb beyond that, with its abilities not really being too beneficial, having an extremely small movepool, very low HP and Speed, and a lack of reliable recovery all detracting from it. This does cause Spiritomb to be a lower tier Pokemon, in the which it shines as one of the best spinblockers as well as countering some of the more common threats in RarelyUsed.

Pressure: Doubles the amount of PP used by the opponent when they hit Spiritomb with an attack, probably the better of Spiritomb's two abilities (although both are bad) as it allows Spiritomb to PP stall out several moves that have lower PP, and its other ability is pretty useless anyhow.
Infiltrator: Allows Spiritomb's moves to bypass Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, and Mist, it's only really useful if you happen to run into someone with a Uxie or something similar using Dual Screens, which is very uncommon and even less likely that Spiritomb would be the best Pokemon to use in the situation.

-Sucker Punch
-Pursuit
-Shadow Sneak
-Trick / Will-O-Wisp
Item Attached: Choice Band / BlackGlasses
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Spiritomb has few options for sets, and this is the most prominent of that small number, with Spiritomb being a great revenge killer as well as spinblocker. Sucker Punch is a strong STAB priority that works well on Pokemon you know are going to attack you (since it doesn't work otherwise). Pursuit is for hitting Pokemon switching out with a powerful hit, which works especially well against Cryogonal (the tier's main Rapid Spinner) as it has a very frail defense and generally won't want to stay in on Spiritomb. Shadow Sneak is Spiritomb's more reliable priority move that is very good for revengekilling Pokemon without having to worry about having them attack you. The last slot depends on the item you're running, with Trick being good with Choice Band as you can often cripple an opponent by locking them into a move or forcing them to be able to only use one move, while Will-O-Wisp works well with BlackGlasses since you aren't locked into a move yourself and can cripple physical attackers with a Burn. Choice Band is easily the better of the two items, as Spiritomb appreciates the higher boost in power and will be switching out a lot anyhow, as well as being able to better perform with a higher Attack, while BlackGlasses boosts the power of Sucker Punch and Pursuit, and allows freedom of move choice, but is a lot weaker.

-Will-O-Wisp
-Rest / Pain Split
-Sleep Talk / Taunt / Sucker Punch
-Foul Play
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) or Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)

Taking advantage of Spiritomb's decent defenses and typing, this set uses Spiritomb as a much bulkier Pokemon than the offensive sets. Will-O-Wisp makes up for the small Defense investment by Burning any physical attackers that attempt to take advantage of the fact. The second slot goes to recovery, with Rest healing you entirely but putting you to Sleep, and Pain Split recovering HP based on your opponent's (which could end badly if they have less than you do). Sleep Talk is good if you're running Rest (and only good in that situation), as it allows you to keep using moves despite being asleep, although you may end up using the move you don't want but hey, at least it's something. Taunt lets Spiritomb stop set up sweepers trying to power through Spiritomb or opposing walls that are trying to either status or set up hazards. Sucker Punch helps to pick off weakened Pokemon, and is the only reason to run a Careful Nature. Foul Play works better with a Calm Nature, and also helps to damage opponents without having to have any Attack investment.

-Calm Mind
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Dark Pulse
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

Although more uncommon, this set does do well under certain circumstances. Calm Mind boosts both Special Attack and Special Defense, leading to Spiritomb being almost impossible to KO as well as it being very powerful. Rest recovers your health when you need it to, although it puts you to Sleep. Sleep Talk helps to make use of those Sleeping turns by either boosting your stats, attacking with those boosted stats, or sitting around trying to recreate Inception by sleeping while you're sleeping. Dark Pulse is strong special STAB that nothing is immune to (unlike Ghost), and does high damage when you've racked up several boosts.

Destiny Bond, Nasty Plot, Return, Shadow Ball, Toxic
Destiny Bond could be used on the bulky set as the just-try-and-kill-me-now option, allowing Spiritomb a revenge KO or to stall an opponent.
Nasty Plot is an alternative boosting move, although it doesn't work quite as well as Calm Mind as it doesn't give a defensive boost in addition to a power boost.
Return is Choice Band Spiritomb's best option for hitting Dark types, and although rare can still pose a problem.
Shadow Ball can be used over Dark Pulse on the Calm Mind set, although they hit all of the same things excluding Normal (which Ghost doesn't hit).
Toxic is an alternative status that Spiritomb can inflict, allowing it to break down non-Steel walls as well as be a general nuisance to any other Pokemon.

Spiritomb really isn't seen too much in this format, with there being many more powerful and more versatile Pokemon out there, but when it is seen, it is generally using the same sets as it does in Singles (and no, you can't Skill Swap Spiritomb Wonder Guard).

Anything that sets up hazards (Uxie, Ferroseed, Qwilfish, etc) really appreciate having Spiritomb as a spin-blocker, as Spiritomb is probably the best of the bunch (especially when you compare it with Dusknoir). Spiritomb works pretty well as both an offensive revenge-killer, and a decent wall, so whatever sort of spin-blocker you want it to be, it will be.

Anything bulky that resists Spiritomb's STABs and doesn't care too much about status breaks down Spiritomb really quickly. Pokemon like Steelix, Mandibuzz, Aggron, Ferroseed, Magneton, Klinklang, and so on all resist Spiritomb's STABs and can Toxic it, KO it, set up on it, and so forth. Entei is another good option as it can't be Burned, can Toxic Spiritomb (depending on the Entei set), or just outright smash it with Flare Blitz. Hariyama and Poliwrath can also do well against Spiritomb, with Poliwrath just setting up all over Spiritomb with Substitute and Bulk Up, and Hariyama absorbing Burns and using them against Spiritomb (as well as resisting a STAB and being bulky). Just pounding away at Spiritomb generally leads to a KO as it really has no easy means of recovery, so hazard damage, status damage, and attack damage all add up very quickly.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Hallowed Tower

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Trade from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Black/White:
Trade from Black 2 & White 2

Black 2/White 2:
Trade from Yancy/Curtis