Gastrodon, Pokémon ROSA, Strat – Millenium

Gastrodon’s Guide – Pokémon #423

Find our guide for Tritosor, Pokemon No. 423 of 4th generation (4G) in VGC. Movesets, stats, weaknesses, resistancesdiscover all the useful information and our advice for Pokémon ROSA.

	Tritosor – No. 423
	Kind : Water / Soil			Base stats
	Talent: Glue / Sink			PV	111
	Hidden talent: Sand Force			ATK	83
	Weight : 29.9 kg, or 65.9 pounds			DEF	68
	Size : 0.9 m, or 2.11 feet			ATK. SP	92
	Egg group: Water 1 / Amorphous			DEF SP.	82
	Not before hatching: 5120			LIVE.	39

Gastrodon is one of those Pokémon that doesn’t shine thanks to its stats and yet it’s a formidable Pokémon. Its dual-type Water/Ground and its Sink ability give it 2 choice immunities and 3 resistances to dominant types in the metagame. Despite a really low Defense stat, its very high HP will save the day since it is one of the best defensive Pokémon in the format.

His Ability Lavabo will not only make him immune to Water attacks and boost his Special Attack when he receives them, but he will also redirect the enemy’s Water attacks towards Tritosor, which will protect a partner from the many Boiling that are hanging around (be careful, however, with Water attacks from areas like Surf and Ocroupi which will hit both Pokémon).

However, Tritosor remains a Pokémon limited by its statistics and lacks the punch to KO.

Tritosor in action

Tritosor by Bean

With the Brut Helmet, Tritosor will make the great Mega Kangaroo. This set is intended to counter the most powerful physical attackers (Mega Kangaroo, Terrakion, Landorus-T, Mega Drattak…), which explains the simplistic statistical distribution.

Sink’s support will be a great help to Pokémon like Mega Kangaroo, Landorus-T, or Heatran. It will be very difficult for the opponent to get rid of Gastrodon without a powerful Grass attack, otherwise Gastrodon can make life hell for entire teams.

Options:

Telluriforce is the reference STAB, there is really nothing better on the special.

Boil has a 30% chance to Burn and does not suffer from Damage Reduce from area damage, unlike Crouch and Surf. You can play Crouch if you feel like it, but it would be a shame to miss out on Boil.

Ice Wind makes Gastrodon interesting as a Support since he can give speed control to the team, even if his Speed ​​will rarely allow him to take advantage of it himself. Ice Beam is a good option since the KO on Landorus-T and Mega Drattak is assured with only 12 EVs in Special Attack.

For the last slot, Heal will be your only way to recover your HP without the Sitrus Berry, but the lack of Shelter can be costly. Your experience should influence your choice, because without Shelter you will need a lot of anticipation.

More marginal attacks like Riposte, Toxik and Smog Bath are not completely to be discarded.

The Brut Helmet gives this set its charm, but if HP recovery seems more important to you then you can opt for the Sitrus Berry (or the Leftovers if the latter is already worn by a member of the team). The Ratam Berry is quite common and saves Tritosor for a turn against his counters, but its use is too situational to be really profitable.

Partners:

Landorus-T and Gastrodon have good synergy, they protect each other which is what makes this duo strong. Mega Charizard-Y is Gastrodon’s worst nightmare, but Landorus-T is Mega Charizard-Y’s, without Wide Guard it will be impossible for him to attack despite Rock Slide.

Talonflame will threaten the Grass Pokémon that are very annoying for Gastrodon. Amoonguss, Ludicolo and Venusaur are too afraid of Talonflame to stay on the field without taking cover. Once again, Lavabo will be of great help in redirecting Water attacks.

If the sun is a problem for Gastrodon when placed by the opponent, Toad will easily solve this problem thanks to Drizzle: in the Rain, Gastrodon only fears Ludicolo (who is not a very frequent partner of Mega Charizard-Y), and you can even use Surf with Toad without hurting Gastrodon who will even boost himself.

Fulguris, Cresselia and Terrakion are also very good partners for Tritosor.

Overall, Tritosor will fit into teams that fear Mega Kangaroo and Landorus-T, which are the 2 most played Pokémon in the format.

Be careful, Tritosor is not a counter to Rain Teams! Ludicolo is present in almost all of them and Gaulet is a frequent partner of Tarpaud.

Counters and Checks:

Mega Charizard-Y is a real pain for Gastrodon, so you’ll always need an answer like Landorus-T or Terrakion if you care about your slug.

Amoonguss is certainly susceptible to the Ice type, but he is still very resistant and can do a lot of damage to Gastrodon without investing in Special Attack. Remember that Amoonguss’ main partners fear Gastrodon, so don’t hesitate to take good care of Amoonguss with at least one of the Pokémon on your team.

Omnipresent in Rain Team, Ludicolo will often be your opponent’s favorite weapon to send your Tritosor back into its Poké Ball. But Ludicolo is one of the Pokémon that bothers any team, which is why you have to know how to manage it in one way or another whether Tritosor is on your team or not.

Calculations:

252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gastrodon: 150-177 (68.8 – 81.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gastrodon: 136-162 (62.3 – 74.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gastrodon: 129-153 (59.1 – 70.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO

4 SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gastrodon: 180-216 (82.5 – 99%) — guaranteed 2HKO

0 SpA Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 128-152 (90.7 – 107.8%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO

12 SpA Expert Belt Gastrodon Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 173-206 (101.1 – 120.4%) — guaranteed OHKO

While Tritosor isn’t used to playing the good guy role since he’s more of a takedown guy, it’s still possible to play Tritosor aggressively with the Pro Belt. This item, which gives a 10% boost to super-effective attacks, is not only surprising, but also undetectable by the opponent before taking a KO.

This statistical distribution leaves enough bulk for Gastrodon to resist many common threats while still having the possibility of OHKOing some metagame threats like Landorus-T, Talonflame or even Heatran.

Options:

Telluriforce and Ébullition are the essential STABs of this set and provide important KOs on Flambusard, Scalprey or even Heatran.

Ice Laser completes this trio of attacks by greatly expanding the coverage. This attack can be replaced by Ice Wind if you have no trouble managing Landorus-T and Mega Drattak with the rest of your team. In addition, the presence of Ice Wind will often feign the set plus support for your opponent, enough to give bad information to your opponent. Although Ice Wind is a very weak attack, the 2HKO is still guaranteed on Landorus-T and Mega Drattak whether the target is alone or not.

Heal will have much less impact than the previous set, as the goal is not to stay on the field for centuries, Shelter will have much more value and will temporarily protect Tritosor from his usual counters.

Partners:

Gastrodon’s counters remain similarly the same with this set, which is why Landor-T still combos so well with Gastrodon.

Tritosor is one of the flagship Pokémon of Distortion thanks to its low Speed ​​and its synergy with Mega Camerupt and Mega Mawile, so it is quite natural that the best setter of Distortion -Cresselia- finds itself as one of Tritosor’s best partners.

While not very popular in the format, Blaziken (whether Mega or not) has excellent synergy with Gastrodon: its movepool is perfect for dealing with Gastrodon’s counters, Rock Slide will be used to eliminate Mega Charizard-Y, the STAB Fire will easily KO Amoonguss and we can even imagine a Raptor on Ludicolo. In this case, beware of Cresselia and Moyade who will have nothing to fear from this original duo.

Counters and Checks:

As previously stated, Tritosor’s counters are generally the same.

The presence of Mega Charizard-Y is still as dramatic as that of Ludicolo, the OHKO is obvious for these two Pokémon.

On the other hand, Gaulet can be 2HKOed thanks to Ice Beam depending on its defensive distribution, but don’t count on that: Gaulet can easily recover HP with the choice of Black Mud, Giga-Leech or its Ability Regenerator.

Rotom-Washer becomes a problem for this set since without the possibility of healing Tritosor will not have the advantage in this duel if Rotom-Washer has Will-o’-the-Wisp, so be careful of Rotom-Washer who goes from harmless to problematic.

Calculations:

140+ SpA Expert Belt Gastrodon Scald vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 175-209 (113.6 – 135.7%) — guaranteed OHKO

140+ SpA Expert Belt Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 194-230 (137.5 – 163.1%) — guaranteed OHKO

140+ SpA Expert Belt Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 278-331 (140.4 – 167.1%) — guaranteed OHKO

140+ SpA Expert Belt Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Terrakion: 161-190 (96.4 – 113.7%) — 75% chance to OHKO

140+ SpA Expert Belt Gastrodon Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 216-254 (126.3 – 148.5%) — guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 148 HP / 204 Def Gastrodon: 172-204 (83.9 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 148 HP / 12 SpD Gastrodon: 164-192 (80 – 93.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO

4 SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 148 HP / 12 SpD Gastrodon: 172-208 (83.9 – 101.4%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO

In competition

Tritosor is not a star of the VGC, but he has always had his place in many players’ teams. After being the subject of much debate within the community in 2012 about his interest in VGC, Tritosor returned in 2013 to a few teams at Worlds, but without reaching the highest rank.

In 2015, we could see Tritosor in action in the teams of Eugene Tan (Top 3 Malaysia Asia Cup Qualifiers), Rushan Shekar (Top 3 Oregon Regional) and Phillip Wingett (Top 5 California Regional).

Very often played in Team Distortion, Gastrodon is also popular in the most original teams like that of Phillip Wingett (Mega-Jungko, Arcanine, Gastrodon, Cresselia, Rotom-Four, Bisharp).