Legendary Pokémon

Platinum is upon us. It will bring many new changes when it comes. One such change are the Move Tutors. There will be new Pokemon and new movesets. Frequencies of appearences of each Pokemon will change. Ice Punch Lucario, LO DD Gyrados, and Scizor are examples of this. The Physical walls we got in DP are some of the best ever. I will give a rundown of each wall:

Gliscor
Base Stats: 75 HP / 125 Def / 75 SDef

He is the textbook example of a Physical wall. He has a reliable recovery move, an entry hazard, a phazer move, good defenses and decent offenses. He does have a 4x weakness to Ice, which is bound to be a common type with or without Shaymin-S. He also is weak to Gyrados' Waterfall.

Skarmory
Base Stats: 60 HP / 140 Def / 70 SDef

The Iron Curtain from GSC. It still remains a good wall, but with Heatran and other Fire-type moves every where and T-Punch from the move tutors, he is in a pot of hot water.

Cresselia
Base Stats: 120 HP / 120 Def / 130 SDef

Cresselia is a perfect wall in all regards, but she suffers from LRRMS (Lack of a Reliable Recovery Move Syndrome.) Moonlight is her only and best option, but it has problems with Sandstream Pokemon (especially Tyranitar) and Snow Warning Pokemon. She also has issues with Crunch Lucario, Crunch Gyrados, and Pursuit Scizor, and she has virtually no moves to counter them. She is probably best left to be a Calm Mind special wall.

Rhyperior
Base Stats: 115 HP / 130 Def / 55 SDef

If only he could be cured of his LRRMS, he would be the best physical wall and a standard on every team. His ability, Solid Rock, makes him very viable in the OU. He is, however, 1.33x weak to Fighting, 2.66x weak to water, and 1.33x weak to Ice. He could really use a recovery move, but right now he does not.

Hippowdon
Base Stats: 108 HP / 118 Def / 72 SDef

He is undoubtobly the most stable wall in the OU. His massive HP stat and a reliable recovery move make that possible. He is 2x weak to Ice, which Lucario and Gyrados have, and 2x weak to Water, which Gyrados is guaranteed to have. It looks like the Hippo of the 4th gen will sink.

Weezing
Base Stats: 65 HP / 120 Def / 70 SDef

Some one on the Smogon Forums said Weezing would be the solution to the Platinum metagame. I have to agree, to a certain degree. Weezing can stop Lucario, Scizor, and Gyrados cold. He is weak to the Psychic special sweepers, which are very common, so that could pose a problem. He too suffers from LRRMS, so he must rely on Pain Split to heal HP.

Swampert
Base Stats: 100 HP / 90 Def / 90 SDef

I love this Pokemon. He has one weakness, and a great movepool for a wall. He is well rounded on the defenses, although he too suffers from LRRMS. He can set down SR and Roar out Gyrados and co., as well as the ever-useful Refresh. He also takes neutral damage from about every attack in the game. Swampet will have issues with Shaymin-S, so his use will be reduced a lot. Apart from that, he is just amazing.

I am sure there are many others, so feel free to post them if you have a great idea. But the question I ask is this: Will our Physical walls be able to contain the Pt Physical Sweepers, or will we have to carry 2+ walls to keep them at bay?

Hey, you forgot about Tangrowth! Tangrowth has 100 base stat in HP and 125 in Def, making it really sturdy! And it has Leech Seed and can learn Substitute, and we all know how annoying the subseeder set is

My vote goes to "Yes, with some trouble". The reason is that we can always use alternative ways of stopping physical sweepers from destroying anything in their way. The most common thing is what we call annoyers. FS Gengar with Hypnosis is a classic Pokémon, and it can go with Counter as well to destroy a physical sweeper. Sacrificing it for getting something with you with DB is also really cool. Another one is Jumpluff. It can go for Sleep Powder, Encore to mess with Swords Dancers, etc., Leech Seed for sapping HP and Substitute for it to be hidden so that it doesn't take any damage after they wake up. And you can do many more things now. Azelf got Trick via the tutors, it can Trick its Choice Specs to any physical sweeper. So goes for most of the Psychics, I just mentioned Azelf 'cause it's the most OU one.

Anyway, as far as the walling part goes, my teams always have a physical and a special wall as well as a Pokémon that can handle both and can cripple both (like Hypnosis Bronzong or Will-o-Wisp Dusknoir). If I still find myself weak to physical/special attacks, I choose sweepers who are immune/resistant to certain moves, like, say, Gengar if I have nothing to counter Fighting-type moves.

Aluado Wrote:Hey, you forgot about Tangrowth!

I'm glad I mentioned to post other Physical Walls if you had one. Tangrowth is pretty good, and his ability (Leaf Guard) is awesome for a wall.

About the Sub-Seed part: I think Sub-Seeding is a pain, but if a special sweeper can outrun it and has a move that will hurt it (Gengar is a good example,) Tangrowth is in trouble. A faster Grass-Type (ie. Shaymin-S) would be more ideal.