Poke-Focus #6: Walrein

Introduction
I still kind of think the whole line is just a duplicate of Seel/Dewgong. Mystery Dungeon helped make that up a bit, though, with the cute way Spheal rolls around as it moves. Too bad Walrein doesn't exactly roll around. Nonetheless, Walrein is going to be a solid addition to many teams, as it adds diversity, defense, and an interesting variety of moves to offer.



About the Pokemon

This Pokemon swims through sub-zero temperatures easily with its Thick Fat protecting it. In the meantime, it shatters ice floes with its large tusks. For some reason. It also gets into territorial battles over other Pokemon; likely including other Walrein. In other news, Walrein is an obvious candidate for a Navy SEAL.

Height: 4'7"; Weight: 332 lbs. Mind you, a real walrus weighs about 2000 pounds...

Capture/Training

Catching Spheal will be no easy task. First of all, they're not available in Diamond, so transferring one from there is out of the question.

Which unfortunately leaves only the Safari Zone. And how does one catch a Spheal there?

Well, first, you need to be able to lay down Blocks. 18 Water Blocks in the Cliff area will do the trick, and Spheal will start appearing there... in 40 days. Needless to say, it will be a LONG time before you can have a Walrein on your team.

The nice thing is, said Spheal will be at Level 45. Its evolved form Sealeo evolves into Walrein at... Level 44. Which means, two levels and you'll have Walrein. The only question, then, is if you want Spheal to know Sheer Cold early, which is a 3 level delay to learn the move 14 levels earlier. A nice deal, but not strictly necessary.

Statistics

110 HP, 80 Atk, 90 Def, 95 Sp. Atk, 90 Sp. Def, 65 Spd

Bulky Water-type, anyone? High HP and solid defenses help Walrein soak in damage. In addition, it has good Special Attack and a decent Attack that can be boosted with Curse. It's only bad stat is Speed, which for a defensive Pokemon (that is likely to Curse itself anyway) isn't that much of a problem.

Basically, Walrein's job is to wall and reign. *groan*

Hard to pick a good nature; it's easiest to just go with the flow, what with how hard Spheal are to catch as it is. Pretty much any Nature will work in some way or another, and will likely just help dictate the exact moveset used.

As for EV-refocusing, again, it depends on the moveset, but out of Speed is likely safe for this Pokemon.

Movesets

Well, here goes.

Abilities, abilities. Thick Fat is okay, and makes it easy to switch in against Fire and Ice types. Ice Body is likely preferable, though. Free healing in Hail makes it that much harder to take down Walrein, and if you combine it with Leftovers (and possibly Aqua Ring), it really helps Walrein do its job.

Walrein's Special Attack is better than its Attack, so special moves will be the focus. Of course, Surf is the premier move on the Water side and Ice Beam is the same for the Ice side. Blizzard is also a candidate, if it will be placed on a Hail team featuring Abomasnow: the move will always hit in that circumstance. Brine is useable, if you consider how Walrein works: as a bulky Water-type, it will soak up damage, so it can use weaker Brines or Ice Beams to chip away at an opponent's health, then smack it with a full-powered Brine when said health drops below half. There's another way to take advantage of this move, which will come up in a bit...

That's really it, though, as far as Walrein's special attacks go. The only other ones worth considering is Signal Beam, which might catch a Psychic or Dark-type off-guard, and a nicely-typed Hidden Power. (Probably either Electric to knock down Gyarados, Grass to smack around Water/Ground types, or Flying to take care of certain Fighting-types...) And maybe one more, which will be covered later...

Physical attacks are not out of the question, though. Walrein does have access to Curse; since it is slow enough as it is, the Speed drop is pretty negligible, Walrein will wall better, during which it can then unload its physical attacks. Waterfall serves as the main Water attack. Avalanche works well with Walrein's high defensive stats, since it can soak up the attack it needs to take in order for the power to go up. There's also Ice Fang, but that one is less effective since Walrein won't be making anyone flinch, unless they're paralyzed.

Earthquake is easily the most attractive physical attack option outside of its STAB moves, though not its only one. For Normal-type moves, you can either go with the reliable Return, or attempt to paralyze enemies with Body Slam, thus likely getting your Speed advantage back. Crunch hits Ghosts and Psychics. Those are the big ones, really...

Walrein gets an oddball move in Super Fang. Under the right conditions, this move can be paired with Brine: Super Fang brings the enemy to that half-HP point, and from there it's theoretically a short path to that double-power Brine, in what essentially turns out to be an automatic two-hit KO on many enemies. The difficulty is that Brine only double-powers when the enemy is below half-HP; and Super Fang only brings HP to at-half or one more than half. How to get that extra point or two of HP out is key for any strategy revolving around this moveset.

Feeling lucky? Sheer Cold is the place to go for all your 30%-chance-one-hit-KO needs.

Encore can be used with Avalanche. Lock the enemy into using an attacking move, then Avalanche them down. The enemy might switch, though, so be careful.

Hail has assorted uses, such as activating Ice Body, bringing out full-accuracy Blizzards, or giving that one last little drop of HP for the Super Fang-Brine combo. Alternatively, just put Walrein on an Abomasnow team.

Disrupting enemies is something Walrein can do, especially since its status as a bulky Water makes it good at taking hits. Walrein can "phaze" out enemy stat boosts with Roar, if needed.
Toxic is always a good option, and the damage from that can easily add up with that from Hail if that's in effect. You may want to consider Block to lock in an enemy in this case. Block also works with other moves where a switch can screw over a combo, such as the Super Fang-Brine combo or the Encore-Avalanche combo. On the other hand, Yawn will likely force a switch, if that's what you want. Or you can Block-Yawn to put an enemy to sleep fairly reliably. Bonus points if you use Protect to keep them from doing anything to you in the meantime, or whatever.

Walrein can use a Rest-Sleep Talk combo with relative ease. It works as one of its better healing options, especially if it's faced with a status condition. Walrein can also try Aqua Ring. If it's hailing, that plus Ice Body and Leftovers will give you a very nice chunk of HP back every round.

Stockpile is another way to get Walrein's defenses up. The move can be used on its own, or it can be combined with Swallow to give Walrein some healing in a pinch, or probably more usefully, Spit Up to have a powerful Normal-type Special move to launch at an unsuspecting foe.

Now, movesets.

Moveset 1: Cursed Walrein
- Curse
- Waterfall
- Avalanche
- Earthquake

Really, all you need. If you want, one or more can be replaced with another physical Normal attack, but it's hardly necessary. These three have good type coverage and can take down most opponents with ease. For a Choice Band set, replace Curse with Return.

Moveset 2: Special Attacker Walrein
- Surf
- Ice Beam/Blizzard
- Hidden Power/(disruptor)/Stockpile/Hail/Rest
- Sleep Talk/Spit Up/(disruptor)

Alas, Walrein's special attack options are limited. Here's what I have to work with; a lot of choices can go into those last two, really.

Moveset 3: Stallrein
- Protect
- Roar/Block
- Curse/Stockpile
- Waterfall/Toxic

A couple alternatives exist, but this one is pretty good at what it does, especially if you go for the Toxic route, then Protect and watch as the enemy wastes away. Block is there if you want to be mean and keep the opponent from switching.

Moveset 4: Super Brine
- Super Fang
- Brine
- Blizzard/Rest
- Hail/Block/Sleep Talk

Trying to combine Super Fang and Brine here. The idea is to have some way of pre-weakening the opponent beforehand. Stealth Rock and other entry hazards can work; other than that, there's always Hail. Of course, Blizzard will be nearly as powerful as Brine and with perfect accuracy in Hail, making the use of Brine kind of superfluous, but oh well. Really, any of Walrein's secondary options could work in the last two slots.

General Moveset
- (primary Water attack)
- (primary Ice attack)
- (secondary attack)/(defensive move)/(disruptor)
- (disruptor)/(defensive move)

What can I say, really? Pick some moves and get going!

Effective Movesets
1. Super Stallrein
- Protect
- Substitute
- Super Fang
- Brine

2. Standard Stallrein
- Protect
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Blizzard/Surf

3. Cursed Walrus
- Curse
- Avalanche
- Waterfall
- Earthquake

4. Feelin' Lucky, Punk?
- Protect
- Substitute
- Aqua Ring
- Sheer Cold

5. I Am The Walrus
- Protect
- Substitute
- Roar
- Surf/Blizzard

6. Sleep-Talk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

7. Encore!
- Encore
- Substitute
- Surf
- Ice Beam


CONCLUSION

It goes without saying that Walrein has his share of uses. How will you use him? (Hint: if you don't do it right this is what happens).