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Can Steelix be competitive?

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thorcaption5

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                                                Posted: Fri, 17/04/2020 01:38                                                (4 Years ago)
                                            

I absolutely love Steelix. It’s probably my favorite gen 2 Pokémon. But I just don’t see how he’d be any good in competitive battles. I did a sw/sh monotype ground playthrough and used Steelix as my tank and he was awesome! But competitively, he’s just too slow and won’t benefit from a trick room set because of the movepool I made for him. He knows: Curse, Body Press, Earthquake, and Gyro Ball. Like I said, in-game he was a blast but online not so much. Has anyone used Steelix competitively and how did it go?

Saladfish

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                                                Posted: Fri, 17/04/2020 03:28                                                (4 Years ago)
                                            

Steelix isn’t really a great pick in my opinion, unless you’re in lower tiers. Go-to steel types are usually Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, and Aegislash. Excadrill in particular is worthy of note. It’s the same typing as Steelix, but functions better in battle because it offensively outmatches Steelix. And if you aren’t looking for something with offensive power and more bulky, there’s still better picks such as Celesteela and Gastrodon.

I’m not a competitive expert or anything so take my analysis as a small one, it’s just my thoughts off the top of my head :)

Kamini

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                                                Posted: Fri, 17/04/2020 04:36                                                (4 Years ago)
                                            

I’ve never seen Steelix in competitive and I can kinda see why. I had one on my Diamond team it it was just terrible at defending, even with a good move set.

Also, I don’t think it really has a diverse move pool, so that takes off some points. It’s typing also makes it 4x weak to fighting (I think, I can’t remember if ground is weak to fighting) and a 4x weakness isn’t very good.

And I think only it’s health is good, not either of its defenses. I could see it being used in some cases but casual competitive, not really

Saladfish

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                                                Posted: Fri, 17/04/2020 04:44                                                (4 Years ago)
                                            

Steelix has an insane defense stat - it can reach a max of 548. Even without any EV training and zero IVs its defense is huge. It unfortunately doesn’t make up for its other less-than-average stats, though. Most especially, a low sp. defense stat is bad news for its weaknesses to fire (flamethrower, fire blast, etc.) and water (scald, hydro pump, etc.).

It doesn’t have any x4 weaknesses, but yeah Steelix’s limited movepool is, well, limited.

Kamini

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                                                Posted: Fri, 17/04/2020 04:50                                                (4 Years ago)
                                            

Ah, I must’ve been thinking about Onix XD

But still, Steelix isn’t all that great. It’s a boulder, yes, but how effect is a boulder by itself?

Shawn1776

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                                                Posted: Tue, 28/04/2020 23:24                                                (4 Years ago)
                                            

The high defense values are helpful.