Welcome once again to Pokemon of the Week! This week, in honor of Utack and Swampy's birthday (which was April 3rd as well), we will be taking an insight into Utack's most favorite of Pokemon, Swampert!

Swampert was the other good Hoenn starter Pokemon. Blaziken was the cool one, Sceptile was the, uhh... one with a tree butt, and Swampert carved a niche as the goofy one. While Mudkip was adorable, Marshtomp was strange, and Swampert looked more silly than tough. But behind the silly exterior laid perhaps a dark design... every single appearance of Swampert in the anime, aside from perhaps Tucker's Swampert, has depicted the silly mudfish as a sinister Pokemon. Is this intentional? Is there more about Swampert than we understand? Only Utack knows, and he isn't spilling his secrets any time soon.

When Swampert was introduced in the R/S's 200 metagame, it was a top-tier Pokemon. Great defensive typing, a balanced stat layout, a good movepool, and two STAB attacks that cover a majority of the metagame. Even back then, however, there was something missing from Swampert's movepool, and it remains a problem today. Swampert lacks a reliable recovery move. It was able to cope with this in 4th generation, but with the power creep of the 5th generation, the introduction of Ferrothorn, entry hazards being even more common, and Gastrodon's Storm Drain gaining a boon that has made it a fantastic team player, Swampert begs for additions that it deserves, and has made it's home for the first time in the UU tier.

Swampert has remained largely unchanged since it's introduction, but that doesn't make it bad by any means. Swampert boasts good stats all around, as well as the ability to reliably setup Stealth Rock, which makes it a team player as well. If you pair Swampert with Pokemon that work well with it, you'll have a reliable, lovable mudfish.

Swampert@ Leftovers Torrent Relaxed nature (+Defense, -Speed) / Impish nature (+Defense, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 240 HP / 252 Defense / 16 Attack Stealth Rock Earthquake Scald / Waterfall Roar / Toxic / Protect

Get it? 'Cause you'd usually lead the match with him... and he's a starter... nevermind. Defensive Swampert has been around for as long as Swampert has been around. Despite not having access to a recovery move, Swampert's fantastic typing allows it to take a couple hits before throwing in the towel. Stealth Rock is a wonderful move to support itself and the team around it, chipping health off of nearly every opponent that you face. Earthquake is your most powerful STAB attack, dealing heavy damage in general. Scald is a good option for the third slot, allowing Swampert to potentially Burn opposing Pokemon. This is great for physical attackers that switch in, but really, nearly any extra damage that any opponent suffers is great for Swampert. Waterfall, however, does more damage to most things than Scald does, so it's a matter of whether you like added power or a chance to spread Burn around.

The final slot is also a preferential choice. Roar allows Swampert to shuffle opponents around. This is especially helpful with entry hazards, as you might guess, since Swampert can cause switches (mainly to Grass type opponents), which will cause them chip damage, as well as whatever is Roared in. Toxic is a great move for wearing down opposing Water types, who are generally bulky. Finally Protect allows Swampert to scout for random Hidden Power Grass from opposing Pokemon, as well as just scouting the foe in general. It also provides a free turn for an extra 6% health, but be careful in spamming it, since it also makes Swampert setup bait, and you really don't want a defensive Pokemon sitting around while the opponent boosts up.

Swampert@ Choice Band Torrent Adamant nature (+Attack, -Sp. Attack) EVs for UU:252 Attack / 208 HP / 4 Sp. Defense / 44 Speed EVs for OU: 172 HP / 252 Attack / 88 Speed Earthquake Waterfall Ice Punch / Superpower / Stone Edge Superpower / Ice Punch / Stone Edge

Swampert has a great base 110 Attack stat that is often forgotten in favor of defensive roles, mostly due to his low Speed. Despite this, Swampert has plenty of reason to don a Choice Band and begin smashing things away. The biggest reason is because it's unexpected, and that edge of surprise can easily turn the tide of battle with some help from prediction. Earthquake is your strongest STAB move, however it's also the most risky, as Flying types and Levitate Pokemon will switch in with complete impunity and force Swampert out. Waterfall is your secondary STAB attack, and a fair bit more reliable than Earthquake. Ice Punch is a great way to deal with Flying types on the switch-in; it's so powerful that it'll OHKO even Zapdos on the switch-in after Stealth Rock damage, as well as smashing those Grass types that come in. Superpower deals out Scrafty and 2HKOs physically defensive Umbreon most of the time. The Speed EVs in the UU spread are set to outspeed Umbreon as well, so it can't Curse before you can hit it, and if it Curses after you hit it, you still have a very high chance of knocking it out with another Superpower.

Now I'll explain how this works in OU. In my humble opinion, this is the only set Swampert should attempt in OU, since it is otherwise outclassed by Gastrodon and Quagsire in more defensive roles. This set allows Swampert to make use of something they don't have: immediate power, and a way to deal with Ferrothorn. Again, Earthquake and Waterfall form the STAB core. Ice Punch hits Flying types, Grass types, and is your best weapon against Dragons like Dragonite and Garchomp. Superpower is recommended above all else to be able to destroy Ferrothorn as it switches in on you, probably expecting a defensive set that it can setup Spikes on. Stone Edge gets a mention for being the only move that hits Gyarados hard, but... really, countering Gyarados isn't hard and can probably be done by other Pokemon on your team.

The EVs for UU are focused around as much power and bulk as possible, with a bit of Speed to outpace Umbreon and other base 60's that don't invest heavily in Speed. 4 Sp. Defense gives Download Pokemon an Attack boost, rather than a Sp. Attack boost.

The OU EVs are centered around power and bulk as well, with enough Speed to outrun Skarmory, which lets Swampert 2HKO it in Rain with Waterfall.

Obtaining Swampert will require you to send a member of the Mudkip family from a 4th generation game. Once obtained, raising Mudkip is fairly easy. There are no moves you should really wait for to evolve, unless you really want Hydro Pump on your Swampert, but Surf, Scald or Waterfall are probably better options.

Swampert Earthquake Waterfall / Surf Ice Punch / Ice Beam Superpower / Hammer Arm

Earthquake is Swampert's best move, bar none. It does the most damage to most opponents. Waterfall runs off of Swampert's higher Attack, however Surf is a great utility move in-game for getting around, and it also does more damage to physically defensive Pokemon, allowing Swampert to deal with both physically and specially defensive Pokemon with the appropriate moves. Ice Punch and Ice Beam is a similar argument to the above choice. Superpower rounds out the set, dealing with Ferrothorn mostly, but also OHKOs Blissey. Hammer Arm provides the same coverage, but without lowering Attack and Defense, instead lowering Swampert's mostly useless Speed.

I'll be entirely honest here: I didn't like Swampert when I first saw it. In 3rd generation's sprites, Swampert's look was more trying to be scary, and it just really isn't. However, when 4th gen came around and they gave him the goofier look, it was perfect. Also, Utack has gone a long way in making me really love Swampert. Utack's Swampy is a very unique Pokemon with interesting personality traits, and the way those two bicker makes me grin. I used to think there was only one cool Hoenn starter, but I have definitely been proven wrong. Swampy, we'll always have your back when Grass types come around.

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