Competitive Pokémon History - Empoleon Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Empoleon was a great choice for a team in fourth generation standard play. It could do virtually everything, sweeping teams to close out a game, utilizing its bulk to offer a helpful support set, or making use of its colorful movepool to perform one role better than anything else in the meta. What role was this?

Answer: Lead

Access to Stealth Rock, priority Aqua Jet and good offensive stats meant Empoleon could consistently begin games with momentum. Good bulk and a good defensive typing meant it could reliably lay down the essential Stealth Rock right from the beginning of the game.

The combination of Hydro Pump and Aqua Jet meant it had the ability to 2HKO the vast majority of other common leads with that combination. Due to Aqua Jet getting priority, Empoleon could often limit opposing leads to just a single turn before being taken out should its trainer opt to pressure them that way.

This either forced them to set Stealth Rock, immediately faint afterward and do zero damage to Empoleon in the process, or only use one damaging move and fail to set Stealth Rock at all. Because of this, Empoleon was among the best leads in the tier.

2. Despite its many qualities, Empoleon had a lot of difficulty making an impact against one particular type of teambuild in the fourth generation. What team archetype was this?

Answer: Stall

The important thing to note is that Empoleon has no way of actually reliably boosting its decent offenses, so thus they remain "decent". Decent sadly isn't enough to fare well against incredibly bulky stall teams. Empoleon could be easily walled and prevented from accomplishing much by any specially defensive wall, such as Blissey or Clefable.

3. Empoleon could make for a great end game cleaner in the fourth generation of standard play. Cleaners in general need boosting moves as a rule of thumb, so what boosting move did Empoleon employ?

Answer: Agility

Lacking access to the other options, Agility got the nod to patch up Empoleon's poor Base 60 Speed. It was generally enough to allow Empoleon to finish the game against weakened teams. Moreover, Empoleon resisted most formes of priority, so it was less at risk of being picked off despite the Speed advantage than most other setup sweepers, such as Garchomp or Salamence.

4. Empoleon received a quirky Dream World Ability in the fifth generation. What ability was this?

Answer: Defiant

Defiant boosts the user's Attack by two stages - essentially a free Swords Dance - if their stats are lowered in anyway. Sadly, Empoleon's Special Attack stat was a whole 25 points higher than its Attack, and it's movepool was far more geared towards being specially offensive. Thus, Defiant was sadly completely useless despite being a generally great ability on its other recipients.

5. Empoleon was unfortunately only remotely viable, if even that, in fifth generation standard play. The presence of numerous counters troubled it greatly. Which of the following is an example of a Pokémon who was able to reliably switch straight into it and win?

Answer: Ferrothorn

Ferrothorn had the perfect typing and bulk to pull this off. It was not weak to anything Empoleon could viably equip, has enormous special bulk, could sling entry hazards or Leech Seed freely at Empoleon or just beat it down with a handful of Power Whips.

Kyurem-Black, Rotom-W, Chansey, Blissey and Vaporeon were Empoleon's other counters.

6. Empoleon's bulk and typing were good enough to make it a solid defensive threat. However, it has always had one glaring flaw between the fourth and seventh generations to prevent it from being particularly amazing. What flaw was this?

Answer: Lack of reliable recovery

If Empoleon had access to Recover or maybe Roost, it would've been absolutely amazing. Sadly, this was not the case. The best Empoleon could do was utilize Rest, which was horribly inadvisable except on the most defensive of defensive stall teams that could account for its passivity. Even then, making the most of Empoleon's utility movepool was still preferable.

7. As the sixth generation came about, it became apparent that Empoleon's support sets were developing one nasty issue. What issue was this?

Answer: Passivity

Sometimes, after Empoleon had done its job, the extent of its offensive presence on its support sets was pretty much spamming Scald and hoping to inflict a burn, which was often easily exploitable. Empoleon needed help with setup sweepers, as its lack of recovery meant it could not continuously fend them off time and time and time again.

8. Typically, throughout the fourth generation up to the end of the seventh, Empoleon defensive sets would concentrate on being specially offensive, rather than the Water type's traditional physically defensive approach. Why was this?

Answer: Empoleon had higher Special Defense

Empoleon's specially defensive capabilities vastly outperformed its physically defensive potential. It's Special Defense had a 101-88 advantage on its physical Defense, and it's typing was better suited dealing with special attacks in general. Scald sufficiently fortified Empoleon on physical defense, if it could proc the 30% chance to burn.

9. Scizor was the king of seventh generation UnderUsed, where Empoleon resided. How did Empoleon fare against the Red Menace?

Answer: Empoleon was checked, but not countered

Scizor could just U-Turn to switch out of Empoleon if it didn't have Superpower. If it did have Superpower, it could use the move to beat the tar out of Empoleon. Scizor also frequently ran Knock Off, and could use the move to deprive Empoleon of its precious leftovers. If you were looking at Empoleon as potential reinforcement against Scizor, look elsewhere.

10. With a bevy of Pokémon falling victim to the infamous 'Dexit', was Empoleon immediately available in the eighth generation right as the Galar region opened up?

Answer: No

Empoleon has never fallen beneath UU before, but lacking the ability to settle in amongst its peers will threaten to change that. It's fellow fourth generation starters befell the same fate.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Competitive Pokémon History - Empoleon Quiz

The swan song (for now) of the competitive history quiz series that has lasted for over a year, we end off with the Sinnoh Water type starter Empoleon covering generations 4-7!

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