Hisuian Samurott
A Cut Above: Hisuian Samurott by JagSamurott
The Samurai Sea Lion got a makeover in the most recent Pokemon Legends: Arceus game, and it was quite the shakeup! Nabbing itself a spot in OU in Smogon with consistent usage across the board. So what does that mean for VGC? Does it have a place to rock out? I believe it does!
As my name, JagSamurott, may imply, my favorite Pokemon has always been Samurott. With this new form, it has only increased my fondness for this Pokemon. I knew I had to give it a try, and the results are very exciting. This Pokemon has incredible potential as an off-meta pick with great answers into the evolving regulation D metagame.
Pokémon Spotlight: Samurott-Hisui
Screenshot from Smogon
Samurott is a Water-Dark type that has access to one of this generation’s strongest new abilities: Sharpness. This turns its above-average attack stat into something to be feared, as its moves get an effective choice band so long as they’re considered “slicing.” Samurott has access to some of the best moves in that category, including Aqua Cutter, Night Slash, Ceaseless Edge, Sacred Sword, X-Scissor, Razor Shell, and even Aerial Ace!
Samurott’s Water-Dark typing allows it to resist a lot of pesky Pokemon’s STABs; from Heatran, Basculegion, Gholdengo, Armarogue, and Chi-Yu to name a few. Without Tera Types involved, you can also threaten an OHKO on all of these mons.
It is also one of the only Pokemon in the entire format to actively threaten both Ursaluna and Cresselia with supereffective-damage. It can even cover Ursaluna when it uses its common defensive ghost Tera Type. For that common type change, Ursaluna will be completely covered by Samurotts vast move pool.
However, one of its weaknesses is that due to its poor stat distribution, it REALLY needs help from its partners. Sometimes it takes a little too much damage to hang on, is a little too slow to outspeed much, and can miss some key damage calculations against opposing Pokemon. It wants to be paired with those who abuse speed control, threatens damage, or protect it from hits, like Tornadus, Chien-Pao, and Indeedee-Female.
Another big thing holding this Pokemon back is the existence of Urshifu. The Water-Fighting or Dark-Fighting Pokemon bears a lot of similarities with Samurott. They are offensive threats who land powerful moves and crits, not being able to withstand too many hits in return. The pandas being naturally faster, naturally stronger, and having the overwhelming ability of Unseen Fist makes for a better meta-pick for many players. With these factors in mind the argument for using Samurott over them is hard, and since they can easily fit on teams much better, not many players will even give Samurott a shot.
However, one thing Samurott has that the Pandas don’t is its middling speed. It thrives much better in Trick Room than either Urshifu does. Meaning, on the popular team comp that utilizes both Tornadus and Farigiraf, as shown below we can now use Farigiraf more intentionally in Trick Room to bolster our team’s flexibility and potency, thanks to Samurott.
Screenshot from Pokemon Showdown
Modern-Day Uses in VGC:
A current example of a team with Samurott doing well was the one built by Yuudaimonsuto and showcased by Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng on his youtube channel (being a tailwind hyper offense team):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boTFKC9z4AU&t=74s&ab_channel=CybertronVGC
One thing that I do not love about this team is its use of Samurott-Hisui’s signature move “Ceaseless Edge,” which is a 65 BP move at 90 Acc that sets spikes for every hit. Most people agree that THIS is the reason to run Samurott. In testing, however, I have realized this move isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. One set of spikes is not very impactful, and this Pokemon can have trouble setting up more than one set of spikes.
Considering teams run one or more non-grounded Pokemon, will likely have passive healing (Leftovers or Rillaboom), Regenerator Amoonguss, or just be very aggressive in its orientation, the impact of spikes is very low compared to single battles. This is because the damage is low, being 12% at 1 stack, 16% at 2, and 25% at 3, and/or the damage doesn’t stick with healing. The highest impact it can nab you is a broken sash on something like a Chien-Pao, which in my opinion does NOT warrant the miss chance.
Night Slash is a significantly more consistent option, as it can’t miss, has slightly higher base power, and a well-timed, higher-chance crit on a switch-in can be absolutely devastating for the opponent.
I recognize, however, that I am a bit biased when it comes to moves that can miss, as I have famously once while using Ho-oh, got so fed up with its miss chance on Sacred Fire that I opted to run Flare Blitz instead. So, if you are willing to put up with this miss chance or have a specific team that wants these hazards, by all means, try it out!
Example Sets:
Set 1: The Urshifu Fusion
Move 1: Aqua CutterMove 2: Night Slash/Ceaseless EdgeMove 3: Focus Energy/Swords Dance/ProtectMove 4: Sucker PunchItem: Life Orb/Mystic WaterAbility: SharpnessNature: AdamantTera Type: PoisonEV Spread: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 44 SpD / 12 Spe This set and spread is my go-to for this Pokemon. It allows for a lot of versatility in how you play it in a given match, alongside the moves it learns. The Focus Energy set is incredibly powerful for Samurott, as with it active, all high-crit moves (Night Slash and Aqua Cutter) are guaranteed to crit. It becomes a mixture of both Urshifu and HITS HARDER than both of them.
For more cool calcs, check out the DevonCalc!
While it is only marginally more damage if the Samurott has no boosting item, what Samurott has is effectively like having Surging Strikes AND Wicked Blow on one Pokemon. The coverage that this type combo hits is insane, hitting all but 44 Pokemon for neutral or better.
Swords dance is an alternative to Focus Energy as well. It increases Samurott’s damage more than Focus Energy but has drawbacks being susceptible to stat changes or screens, unlike critical hits. Yet Swords Dance also has the added benefit of being stackable in the case of exceptionally slow games, which can get out of control quickly.
Protect is a very powerful pivoting tool as well if you feel your team has no room to stop and set up. This fits well if your team opts to be a bit more balance-eske or when you find yourself looking at a few too many Flutter Manes outspeeding you with Booster Energy speed boosts.
Lastly, Sucker Punch is a MUCH better move on this Pokemon than one would expect, as it loves having that extra oomph to nail a lot of KOs on faster Pokemon that have taken decent chip damage. In regards to Sword Dance specifically, you can make these Sucker Punches hit like absolute trucks, similar to Kingambit did back in Regulation C and before.
Set 2: The Banded Banger
Move 1: Aqua Cutter
Move 2: Night Slash/Ceaseless Edge
Move 3: Sacred Sword
Move 4: Sucker Punch
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Sharpness
Nature: Adamant
Tera Type: Water/Dark
EV Spread: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Who needs defense when you got offense? Giving Samurott a choice band gives it a major power boost, at the cost of the choice lock limiting your effectiveness if the opponent makes a read with a good switch or defensive Tera. The power is still warranted, especially with Sacred Sword in your arsenal. Sacred Sword is an insanely powerful form of coverage to break through some particularly tough Pokemon, such as a shell armor Goodra with Acid Armor boosts, since Sacred Sword ignores stat changes.
Another nice tip regarding this speed stat is that it speed creeps modest Gholdengos. So, if you were playing a Gholdengo Tailwind Team with your own Tailwinded Samurott, you can take comfort in the fact that the sea lion will be going first, lest they are timid. If you feel like you need to be outspeeding even the timid ones, jolly Samurott also speed creeps those Gholdengo as well, additionally, speed creeping Adamant Urshifu, at the cost of some of your power.
Example Teams:
Team 1: https://pokepast.es/ebb052d483069979
Pokémon 1: Samurott
Pokémon 2: Tornadus
Pokémon 3: Pawmot
Pokémon 4: Farigiraf
Pokémon 5: Rillaboom
Pokémon 6: Gholdengo
As mentioned in the spotlight section, some kind of “Trick Wind” (or “Tail Room”) team would be one where Samurott especially shines. Where the strength of this team, compared to common variants of it, reveals itself is in the Farigiraf’s Trick Room. Quite a few teams slap on the giraffe to patch up their Trick Room matchup. But now, we can utilize the very powerful effect to its fullest, utilizing sweepers like Samurott and even Gholdengo to sweep through opposing hyper-speedy teams. Both Rillaboom and Pawmot would help with setting this condition up, and if the opponent is not very fast, then it's also a perfect setup for tailwind.
Pawmot may seem like a bit of an odd choice here, but the reason it is here is that overall, we do not have very many fast Pokemon to take full advantage of tailwind, as even a Booster Energy Speed Flutter Mane is too much to catch up with, even if we maxed out all our pokemon’s speed, barring Tornadus.
Yet this rodent can go in and clean it up, alongside both forms of Urshifu. Not to mention the absolutely broken move that is revival blessing that can steal games by reviving a Pokemon, say, a fainted Tornadus, for a late-game tailwind sweep.
Team 2: https://pokepast.es/dbc84b03987823b9
Pokémon 1: Samurott-Hisui
Pokémon 2: Indeedee-F
Pokémon 3: Armarogue
Pokémon 4: Sneasler
Pokémon 5: Tornadus
Pokémon 6: Flutter Mane
This is a variant of a team I ended up piloting in the Victory Road to Yokohama tournament. One thing I realized was that Indeedee-F is an excellent partner for both Samurott and Sneasler. Allowing them to shine with their powerful hits, both in and out of Trick Room.
Sneasler also helps round out the team by offering really solid ways of knocking out Pokemon like Rillaboom and Flutter Mane, especially with a nice Helping Hand. Not to mention Dire Claw has the chance to rob games outright, getting a lucky sleep or paralysis to lock an opponent’s Pokemon out of the game for no real cost of your own.
As Psyspam can have issues with steel types and Sneasler legitimately cannot touch Gholdengo, Flutter Mane and Samurott really help with this problem. Tornadus, as it was on the prior team, is here to help out the team with tailwind support, and while it still carries rain dance, this time we run Sunny Day to improve the potency of both Flutter Mane and Armarogue.
Conclusion:
Overall, while I think most players will overlook Samurott due to the presence of both Urshifus, I believe Samurott has a lot of strength in this metagame! It has a lot going for it, but it isn’t nearly as slappable onto teams as both of the Pandas, which makes people not consider Samurott as much, and as a result, fewer players experimenting with it.
However, I know that if given the time, a truly skilled trainer and an optimal team will make this Pokemon shine! And hey, I can say for certain this is a very fun Pokemon to play, so get out there and show the world what Samurott’s got!
Disclaimer: The opinions/stories expressed in the blog post are those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of the platform or its affiliates.
Author Bio:
Hey, I am JagSamurott, a big fan of using lesser-used Pokemon to their strongest! Recently having a grand time with Iron Moth+Corviknight, have had a ton of fun breaking Umbreon into a lot of formats, and now looking at the titular Hisuian Samurott in Regulation D. Utilizing niche favorites of mine has been something I love so much about Pokemon, and something I strive for - while winning - best I can!
Find this article helpful and want to go in-depth on a given Pokemon?
I am open to coaching!
https://metafy.gg/@jagsamurott/sessions