Salazzle Movesets & Competitive Sets

Salazzle's high Speed, powerful STAB combination, and access to Nasty Plot give it immense wallbreaking potential. Toxic and Corrosion allow Salazzle to pressure most of its checks, including Gastrodon, Milotic, and Dragalge. Knock Off can be used over Nasty Plot to further punish Salazzle's switch-ins by removing items such as Leftovers, Heavy-Duty Boots, and Assault Vest. Salazzle appreciates Fighting-type wallbreakers that help it with specially defensive walls such as Umbreon and Snorlax, with Heracross, Bewear, and Lucario being good options. Salazzle has bad defensive stats, so it appreciates having pivots like Milotic, Raikou, and Noivern to bring it in unharmed. Salazzle relies on entry hazard support from Klefki, Roserade, or Golisopod so it can OHKO foes with its powerful STAB attacks. Grass-types such as Dhelmise, Celebi, and Decidueye help Salazzle against Water- and Rock-type checks such as Gastrodon and Diancie. Electric-types such as Toxtricity and Xurkitree are also good teammates because they can pressure Water-type Pokemon, get Salazzle onto the field safely with Volt Switch, and further wear down special sponges such as Porygon2 and Umbreon.

Salazzle's solid STAB combination lets it threaten common UU Pokemon including Amoonguss, Celesteela, Scizor, and Primarina. Knock Off makes Salazzle more difficult to pivot around with common checks such as Chansey, Mandibuzz, and Swampert. Toxic alongside Corrosion lets Salazzle cripple switch-ins like Nihilego, Tentacruel, Hippowdon, and Slowking, allowing itself or a teammate to overwhelm them and enhancing its offensive potential. Maximum Speed investment is needed to outspeed offensive threats like Azelf, Zarude, and Cobalion. Heavy-Duty Boots alleviates Salazzle's crippling Stealth Rock weakness and helps with its longevity, giving it more opportunities to enter the field safely. Salazzle fits best on bulky offense teams that appreciate it heavily chipping the opposing team, paving the way for teammates to break holes with ease. Mamoswine is an excellent partner for Salazzle, beating checks like Chansey and Mandibuzz and wearing down their shared answers in Swampert and Slowking. Chip damage from Stealth Rock setters, such as Nihilego, Cobalion, and Swampert, is valuable to make switching into Salazzle even more of a pain. Knock Off absorbers, such as the aforementioned Cobalion, Amoonguss, and Tangrowth, are all appreciated due to how punishing it is for Salazzle to lose Heavy-Duty Boots. Cobalion in particular can draw in Grass-types to give Salazzle entry points to fire off an attack. Meanwhile, Amoonguss and Tangrowth check Swampert and Azumarill. Thundurus-T and Zarude are great partners, as both offensively pressure Slowking and Swampert while pivoting on Amoonguss and Tangrowth, giving Salazzle safe entry points despite its frailty. Celesteela and Slowking both reliably check Nihilego and Zygarde-10% for Salazzle. Slowking is able to pivot out on Grass-types with Teleport to let Salazzle in. Checks to defensive Scizor like Celesteela, Cobalion, and Salamence all pair well with Salazzle, as it cannot function as the sole Scizor check on most teams. Salamence also appreciates Salazzle wearing down Hippowdon and Slowking through Knock Off + Toxic, as this makes it extremely difficult for them to switch into repeated Hurricanes.

Salazzle is a good option on Fire teams because of its ability in Corrosion along with its good Speed stat, allowing it to effectively spread status using Toxic. Corrosion is particularly useful for crippling Poison- and Steel-type Pokemon such as Toxapex, Skuntank, Jirachi, and Aegislash, which would otherwise switch into Toxic. Salazzle can also it to outspeed fast threats such as Keldeo and Hydreigon in order to beat them with Substitute + Protect after they have been badly poisoned by Toxic. Protect + Substitute enables Salazzle to wear down Pokemon once they have been crippled by Toxic. Protect is also used to scout against common Choice item users like Excadrill and Galarian Darmanitan, as well as to gain more passive recovery using Black Sludge. Sludge Wave lets Salazzle take on Fairy-types like Hatterene and Rest Grimmsnarl that do not mind Toxic. Salazzle should try to come in once entry hazards are gone to avoid getting worn down by Spikes and severely chipped by Stealth Rock. It should not try to switch into strong attacks because of its poor bulk and should instead be brought in through U-turn and Volt Switch. Salazzle should try to use Substitute on a predicted switch in order to get more opportunities to spread status. Having 252 HP EVs maximizes Salazzle's poor bulk in order to spread status comfortably, while having 252 Speed EVs with a Timid nature makes Salazzle able to outpace fast Pokemon such as Keldeo, Terrakion, Gengar, and Alolan Ninetales. Salazzle appreciates Torkoal and Ninetales because of their ability to set sun with Drought and therefore weaken Water-type attacks like Toxapex's Scald for Salazzle. The former can use Yawn to make it easier for Salazzle to come in, Rapid Spin to get rid of hazards, and Stealth Rock to help damage foes to make it easier for Salazzle to stall them out, while the latter can use Hypnosis to help Salazzle come in and can use Solar Beam to take care of Ground- and Water-types such as Seismitoad and Mamoswine. Cinderace, Arcanine, and Darmanitan are all fast physical attackers that appreciate Salazzle badly poisoning walls such as Galarian Corsola, Toxapex, and Mandibuzz that give them trouble, and they can all beat Pokemon such as Tyranitar and Snorlax for Salazzle in return. Cinderace is able to use Sucker Punch to help wear down fast Pokemon like Dragapult, use U-turn to bring in Salazzle safely, and use Court Change to move hazards to the other side of the field for Salazzle. Choice Scarf Darmanitan can outspeed and beat faster Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Gardevoir, Zeraora, and Choice Scarf Excadrill, and it can also bring in Salazzle safely with its fast U-turn. Choice Scarf Charizard can be used to help in the Dragon-type matchup, as it can take care of most Dragon-types such as Dragapult and Dracovish once sun and Stealth Rock are up with Dragon Pulse. Choice Band Arcanine can be used, as it can use Extreme Speed to take care of weakened Pokemon such as Hydreigon, Keldeo, and Alolan Raichu for the team mid- to late-game. Rotom-H is a good partner, as it can pressure Water-types such as Pelipper and Primarina with Thunderbolt and come in on Ground-type attacks from Pokemon such as Mamoswine, Flygon, and Hippowdon.

Salazzle benefits Poison teams greatly by spreading status, threatening a plethora of defensive Pokemon along with Steel-type Pokemon thanks to its ability Corrosion. Salazzle should try to inflict Toxic on the opposing Pokemon then use Substitute and Protect to build up damage. Flamethrower is effective against Steel-type Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Corviknight along with various Grass-, Ice-, and Bug-type Pokemon such as Roserade, Frosmoth, and Ribombee. Before sending in Salazzle, you should try to get rid of any hazards, as it gets chipped especially heavily by Stealth Rock. It's best to avoid strong attacks because Salazzle doesn't have amazing bulk, even with maximized HP. Maximum Speed along with a Timid nature allows Salazzle to outspeed Pokemon like Hydreigon, Galarian Mr. Mime, and Froslass in setting up Substitute and stalling Toxic. Poison teams love spreading status with Pokemon like Toxapex, Drapion, and Galarian Weezing. Salazzle contributes to spreading Toxic to all types and dealing with Steel. In return, Poison's defensive Pokemon support Salazzle because it has poor bulk. Galarian Weezing provides Ground-type immunity thanks to its ability Levitate and can Defog away hazards like Stealth Rock and Spikes, allowing Salazzle to come in safely. Galarian Weezing also serves as a Dragon-type check, with it having access to Strange Stream as a STAB move. Drapion provides decisive immunity to Psychic-type moves. Choice Scarf Drapion uses Knock Off to get rid of opposing Choice items from Pokemon like Excadrill and helps inflict status with Toxic Spikes or Toxic. Toxapex resists Water-type moves and also is effective in inflicting status by having access to Baneful Bunker, Toxic Spikes, Toxic, and Scald. Toxapex is an amazing wall that is fit to survive an attack from and potentially status Pokemon such as Tyranitar and Dragapult. Vileplume resists Water-type moves and takes neutral damage from Ground-type moves, which allows it to take attacks from Pokemon like Excadrill and Dracovish. Vileplume is used to stall out damage with Strength Sap and Leech Seed from an ally's Toxic.

Moves Toxic lets Salazzle rack up poison damage on any Pokemon without an ability that grants a poison immunity thanks to Corrosion. Protect lets Salazzle stall for poison damage as well as Black Sludge recovery, massively reducing the time a poisoned Pokemon has to react. It also is useful for scouting Choice Scarf users such as Krookodile and Hydreigon that might come in to revenge kill Salazzle. Flamethrower makes sure Salazzle has ways to immediately pressure Scizor and is a good way to damage Steel-types even more quickly. Substitute is helpful for racking up even more poison damage in conjunction with Protect, forcing your opponent to either bring in something faster than Salazzle or use Volt Switch to break the cycle. Taunt is useful versus defensive teams especially, preventing clerics like Florges and Blissey from using Heal Bell or Aromatherapy. However, using a moveslot on Taunt does sacrifice the ability to use Substitute to stall attackers that can actually threaten Salazzle as well as losing the move that gives Salazzle a buffer for Pursuit users like Mega Aerodactyl. Set Details Maximum Speed EVs with a Timid nature allow Salazzle to outspeed base 115 Pokemon such as Starmie and Raikou, allowing Salazzle to hit them with a Toxic in dangerous situations. Corrosion is what makes Salazzle unique as a Toxic user, giving it the ability to damage Poison- and Steel-types that normally are immune to the move, such as Empoleon and Nihilego. Usage Tips Salazzle is generally free to start spamming Toxic every time it enters the field. The only times it should be wary is when a poison-immune Pokemon by virtue of abilities such as Gligar or Reuniclus is on the opposing team. RestTalk users such as Suicune are also easily able to pivot in and take advantage of the set's weak offenses. Try to bring Salazzle in on free switches or when you predict a resisted hit, as even with investment, its bulk is pitiful, and it will fall to most STAB attacks from breakers like Hydreigon and Moltres. Predicting Pokemon such as Cobalion and Amoonguss is a good way to find turns to spread status or get a Substitute up. Use Protect when needed to maximize Salazzle's potential recovery and residual damage. You can also catch double switches this way and potentially amass even more chip damage. Be careful of letting in threatening Pursuit users like Mega Aerodactyl and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Avoid Knock Off from support Pokemon like Alomomola and Mienshao at all costs, as Salazzle will not be able to stall for long periods of time without its Black Sludge. If Salazzle is carrying Taunt, it can often keep using Taunt to cover switches as long as some of your opponent's team is already poisoned. This is even more effective when you have some form of entry hazards up and makes it hard for defensive teams to break through Salazzle's onslaught when they can't recover any health. Try and keep entry hazards off your side of the field, as Salazzle's already limited defensive utility is cut even further when it is losing 1/4 of its health due to Stealth Rock or even more with Spikes added. Avoiding paralysis from Klefki, Rotom-H, and Amoonguss is important, as Salazzle needs its speed in order to set up Substitutes safely and dislikes the full paralysis chance on Protect turns. Team Options Corrosion Salazzle mostly fits on bulkier teams that are able to take advantage of its passive damage and stalling abilities. Entry hazard setters like Hippowdon, Empoleon, Mega Aggron, and Mega Steelix will all help soften the Pokemon Salazzle poisons. Wish users are a great way to aid Salazzle's recovery, giving it more flexibility in when it switches in. Alomomola, Blissey, and Sylveon all can cover different defensive needs Salazzle fails to provide while supporting it with Wish. Having secondary Scizor checks such as Cobalion, Tentacruel, and Mega Aggron is important, as it prevents Salazzle from being overworked. Taunt users are another way to ensure that Salazze's residual damage continues to be a hindrance, with Pokemon like Hydreigon and Krookodile being great options. Pokemon that can tank Ground- and Rock-type attacks well like Mega Aggron, Slowbro, and Hippowdon synergize well defensively. Hazard removal options like Empoleon, Hydreigon, and Mega Altaria keep Salazzle healthy and allow it to pressure opposing Steel- and Poison-types even more. Mega Altaria in particular appreciates the types that resist its Fairy-type STAB move being weakened. Offensive threats that appreciate tanks and walls like Tentacruel and Empoleon being weakened make for good partners. Swords Dance Scizor and Calm Mind Suicune are both adept in taking advantage of Salazzle's damage.

Moves Nasty Plot boosts Salazzle's Special Attack sharply, allowing it to become a powerful threat. Sludge Wave is Salazzle's most reliable STAB move, which when augmented by Poisonium Z provides it with a very strong Acid Downpour that is capable of breaking past Pokemon such as Latias at +2. Fire Blast is Salazzle's secondary STAB move and allows it to have good offensive coverage coupled with Sludge Wave, capable of hitting Steel- and Ground-types that Sludge Wave can't. Hidden Power Grass offers coverage for Pokemon that Fire Blast and Sludge Wave do not hit at least neutrally such as Swampert and Gastrodon. Hidden Power Ice may be run over Hidden Power Grass to hit Gligar. Set Details The given EV spread allows Salazzle to avoid a 2HKO from Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Punch while maximizing Special Attack and Speed. Oblivious prevents Salazzle from being afflicted by Taunt, meaning that it can always set up with Nasty Plot. Poisonium Z is the item of choice, which allows Salazzle to break past Pokemon such as Latias and Suicune with Acid Downpour. Firium Z is an alternative to this, as Inferno Overdrive is capable of heavily damaging checks like Alolan Muk and can OHKO other Pokemon like Gligar without having to forfeit Hidden Power Grass. Usage Tips Salazzle is at its best when its faster checks such as Choice Scarf Pokemon like Hydreigon and Krookodile and Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Manectric, and Mega Beedrill are removed from play, so ideally avoid setting up while they are still around. Do not attempt to use Salazzle as a switch-in to anything; its abysmal bulk prevents it from being a reliable switch-in to even resisted hits. Salazzle can be brought in via pivoting, via double switches, or after a teammate has fainted. It is best to set up with Salazzle on a Pokemon that it forces out like Sylveon or Scizor. Alternatively, you can take advantage of a foe locked into a move like Pursuit or Bullet Punch and set up with Salazzle. Ensure that Pokemon that could potentially halt a Salazzle sweep such as Hippowdon are sufficiently worn down or eliminated before attempting to set up. Due to Salazzle's typing, it can serve as a soft check to Pokemon like Choice Scarf Infernape and Rotom-C if absolutely necessary, but this hampers its ability to set up in the process. Team Options Entry hazard removers like Hydreigon and Starmie synergize really well and ensure that Salazzle will be as healthy as possible when trying to set up. Methods of speed control like Thunder Wave from Pokemon such as Klefki and Rotom-H and Tailwind from Pokemon such as Tornadus help Salazzle to get around its faster checks. Entry hazard setters like Nihilego, Cobalion, and Klefki make for great partners because they are able to wear down Salazzle's defensive checks. Pokemon like Rotom-C, Celebi, and Crawdaunt that are capable of punishing Ground- and Rock-types make for good partners. Pivots like Hydreigon and Zeraora can be used to bring in Salazzle safely.

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Moves Fake Out enables Salazzle to immobilize a foe on the first turn that it's out, enabling it to stop a threat to its teammate for that turn. Flamethrower is Salazzle's preferred Fire-type STAB move, having perfect accuracy while OHKOing Kartana and 2HKOing Celesteela. Sludge Bomb allows Salazzle to hit Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Fini super effectively while hitting Tapu Bulu harder than Flamethrower. Protect allows Salazzle to shield itself while its teammate handles a threat like Alolan Marowak that Salazzle can't handle and also allows it to shield itself from an ally's Earthquake. Encore expands on Salazzle's disruption capabilities, allowing it to lock an opponent into a status move like Substitute or Protect, allowing Salazzle and its teammates to ignore that Pokemon and instead focus on another one for a few turns. Taunt allows Salazzle to prevent Pokemon like Porygon2 and Mandibuzz from using Trick Room or Tailwind while also preventing these Pokemon from using their recovery moves. Set Details A simple spread of 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe is fine for Salazzle, as it won't be taking very many hits anyway. A Timid nature is essential, as this allows Salazzle to outspeed Kartana and Alolan Ninetales. Focus Sash allows Salazzle to take any attack from full health, which is helpful given that its paper-thin defenses don't allow it to take very many attacks. Furthermore, the Focus Sash enables it to actually threaten Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Fini with Sludge Bomb. On Salazzle, Oblivious is a situational ability at best. However, it gets the nod over Corrosion thanks to protecting Salazzle from Taunt, thus ensuring that it can always use any of its status moves no matter what. On the other hand, Corrosion only enables Sludge Bomb to poison opposing Poison-types, but Salazzle has no business staying in on Alolan Muk or Nihilego to begin with. Usage Tips Unless Tapu Lele shows up in Team Preview, Salazzle is generally a pretty easy pick for a lead, allowing it to immediately exert Fake Out pressure. Leading Salazzle with a Tailwind setter like Mandibuzz helps to maintain momentum; for example, Salazzle can use Fake Out against a threat like Tapu Koko while Mandibuzz sets up Tailwind to allow Salazzle to then outspeed and OHKO Tapu Koko. Try to conserve Salazzle for as long as possible by switching it out, even if it has been brought down to its Focus Sash. Even a 1 HP Salazzle can still come in handy for the Fake Out pressure. Unless you need to bring Salazzle in order to beat a threat like Kartana, it's generally not recommended to bring it against a team that has Gigalith, seeing as Gigalith's Sand Stream ability will break Salazzle's Focus Sash and it resists both of Salazzle's STAB moves. Team Options Fast, offensive Pokemon like Pheromosa and Kartana appreciate Salazzle's ability to create free turns with Fake Out and Encore, as it protects them from OHKOs while they handle the foe that has not been immobilized. Furthermore, Pheromosa can handle Garchomp with Ice Beam, while Kartana easily manages Gigalith and Nihilego. Given that Salazzle cannot touch Pokemon like Gigalith, Nihilego, and Alolan Marowak, Ground-type Pokemon like Garchomp and Krookodile make for good teammates. Since their Earthquake will also target Salazzle, it is almost essential to run Groundium Z on whichever one of Garchomp or Krookodile you pick. If your team does not have any more room for Z-Move users, Mudsdale makes for a good teammate to handle the aforementioned Ground-weak threats, as it can target them with High Horsepower, which does not have the downside of also hitting Salazzle. As Ground-types like Garchomp and Mudsdale prove to be problematic for Salazzle, it's a good idea to consider running a Water-type like Tapu Fini or Gyarados alongside it. Tapu Koko and Tapu Fini make for strong teammates for Salazzle, as they can remove Psychic Terrain from the field.

Moves Flamethrower lets Salazzle immediately threaten Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Mega Scizor. Toxic allows Salazzle to cripple any Pokemon including Steel- and Poison-types such as Heatran and Mega Venusaur thanks to Corrosion. Protect allows Salazzle to scout attacks, gain Black Sludge recovery, and Toxic stall foes. Substitute gives Salazzle a way to Toxic stall Pokemon in tandem with Protect while also avoiding status such as Thunder Wave and giving it a way to avoid weak attacks from walls such as Mega Venusaur. Set Details 252 Speed EVs and a Timid nature make Salazzle as fast as possible, allowing it to outspeed Pokemon such as Keldeo and Choice Scarf Magnezone. An investment of 252 HP EVs maximizes Salazzle's bulk while providing longer-lasting Substitutes, and 4 EVs in Special Defense give Download users such as Porygon2 a boost to their Attack rather than their Special Attack. Black Sludge gives Salazzle a form of residual recovery and allows it to switch into Stealth Rock four times. Corrosion allows Salazzle to use Toxic on Poison- and Steel-type Pokemon such as Toxapex and Heatran. Usage Tips Salazzle finds tons of use in the Steel matchup, as it can pressure Pokemon such as Scizor with Flamethrower, allowing it to set up a Substitute, and badly poison Pokemon such as Heatran. Salazzle should be preserved in this matchup, as it can apply lots of pressure by threatening to poison everything or wear Pokemon down with Flamethrower. Since Salazzle is super frail, it cannot be directly switched into battle; rather, it needs to be brought in when an ally faints, on a predicted switch, or when an opposing wall is expected to use recovery or Protect. Salazzle should use Protect as frequently as possible to rack up Black Sludge recovery and to scout what move Choice-locked Pokemon such as Victini choose. Protect and Substitute should also be used to help Salazzle stall out Toxic damage against opposing Pokemon. Salazzle should set up Substitute against weaker resisted attackers such as utility Jirachi or when it forces a switch against Steel-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn. Behind Substitute, Salazzle can readily spam Toxic to status Pokemon and Protect to stall poison chip damage. Try to remove Stealth Rock from the field with Crobat before switching in Salazzle, as it takes a large chunk of damage from Stealth Rock and gets worn down quickly. Since Black Sludge is Salazzle's only form of recovery, do not let it get removed by Knock Off from Pokemon such as Mew, as losing it severely reduces Salazzle's time in battle. Team Options All of Salazzle's teammates appreciate its ability to wear down bulkier Pokemon such as Celesteela and Toxapex with Toxic thanks to Corrosion, making the matchup against balanced and bulkier teams easier. Mega Venusaur provides Salazzle with a switch-in to Ground-type attacks such as Choice Scarf Excadrill's Earthquake and Gastrodon's Earth Power. It also can provide Leech Seed support, giving Salazzle more opportunities to set up a Substitute and keep its health up in the battle. Toxapex also acts as a blanket check to many attackers, being able to switch in against a variety of threats such as Greninja and Mega Lopunny for Salazzle. Alolan Muk provides a much-needed Psychic-immune teammate for Salazzle. It can also use Knock Off to remove items such as Mantine's Leftovers and Pursuit trap Psychic-type Pokemon that present a threat to Salazzle such as Choice Scarf Latios. In return, Alolan Muk appreciates Salazzle's ability to take on Pokemon such as Celesteela and Toxapex, which would otherwise beat it. Crobat provides a Ground-immune teammate for Salazzle and can Defog away entry hazards such as Stealth Rock, severely improving Salazzle's ability to come in multiple times a battle and use Toxic. Crobat also can Taunt walls such as Chansey and Porygon2, preventing them from using their recovery moves. Nidoking and Nihilego are the viable Stealth Rock setters available to Poison teams and compete for the last team slot. Nihilego is a fantastic revenge killer that appreciates Salazzle's ability to cripple walls such as Celesteela, giving it a cleaner time sweeping late-game, and Nidoking in return can break Pokemon such as Gliscor that wall Salazzle otherwise.