How will Weezing do as defensive tank in gen 3?

Question

Mod edit: remember this is not a moveset question. Focus on the question written in the title.

Given his physical tanking role in my team, I'm worried that his health stat might be dangerously low. Attack, on the other hand, starts average/slightly above average. With Weezing's base stats, assuming I spent the first half of the EV share on DEF, should I EV train HP or ATT or split both ways between the two?

I plan on having some move coverage with one Fire type move, Flamethrower. The rest of the movepool will make the most of STAB while providing some tanking options also.

Nature: Relaxed
Item: Poison Barb/Leftovers/Lax Incense

Moveset
Sludge Bomb
Flamethrower/Shadow Ball/Sludge
Double-Team
Toxic/Poison Gas

Comments

Weezing has a niche in being able to counter most fighting Pokemon and stop physical sweepers with will-o-wisp. It's good only with leftovers (it's too weak to make use of poison barb and lax incense is unreliable) and with max HP and physical defense (preferably also with impish nature because it can actually outspeed a few things). Its good moves are will-o-wisp, sludge bomb, explosion, pain split, and haze. It needs will-o-wisp in order to work, and without will-o-wisp it's just a worse Snorlax.

Answer 1

Weezing is one of the better physically defensive tanks in Generation 3, the other most notable one being Skarmory.
Skarmory is generally the better option, as it has access to Spikes and Whirlwind. However, Wheezing is still a solid option. His Poison typing gives him only one weakness (with Levitate). He has Haze. Also, he has access to coverage in the form of Flamethrower, and is therefore rarely completely walled.

His stat spread is pretty good, as well. 90 Attack and 85 Special Attack will give decent power to any moves you choose for him.
His low health is a problem, but Leftovers and Pain Split will help keep him alive.

In my experience, Wheezing can be great. Just keep him away from Special attackers.

This set (from Smogon) is good:
Weezing @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Haze
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Personally, I'd put your EV's:
252 HP
252 DEF
4 SP. ATK

With a Modest nature.

OK, that is generally how you should use Wheezing. Shut down Physical attackers, and troll everyone.

To answer your question, then, put the EV's into health.

sumwun is completely right, Will-O-Wisp is pretty much mandatory on Weezing. As long as you can breed it onto him, the fourth move has to be Will-O-Wisp. Plus, Sludge Bomb has a chance to poison, anyway.

Since this isn't an actual competitive format (I am assuming this is ingame, battle tower, or battle frontier) Double Team is legal. It's a decent move for him, and his bulk gives him a chance to set it up. However, without further investing in attacks, he will be out-stalled eventually. Umbreon with synchronize WILL give you a problem.

Just thought I'd add this:
In-game, always boost his special defense. Competitive, he needs as much defense as possible to do his job, and shut down physical sweepers.

Thats all, folks!

Hope I helped...

Comments

Did Smogon really suggest modest? I always thought relaxed was better because that raised physical defense.

---

Smogon does not suggest modest, that was me. They suggest either bold or impish. Bold for flamethrower, and impish for sludgebomb.

I fixed it...