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Hey, weren’t we just talking about this guy? I really like Hippowdon. The only other Sand Stream user of all time besides Tyranitar, Hippowdon is gonna be pretty valuable in a generation with a lot of rock types and no Tyranitar. I mentioned how good Garchomp is on a sand team in the Garchomp dissertation I wrote but there’s also Rampardos, Rhyperior, Bastiodon, Probopass, and plenty more rock/ground/steel types that wouldn’t mind a sand setter like this one. Plus, it’s always good to have a switch-in that shuts down someone’s weather-based strategy. Unfortunately for Hippowdon, the other weather setters in this generation do kinda fuck it up, those being Abomasnow and Froslass. But anyway, Hippowdon is a physically bulky, decently strong physical attacker a la Torterra, but without a 4x weakness, as it’s a mono ground type. 47 speed makes it pretty good in Trick Room and its 118 defense makes it decent at using Body Press (but it does not get Iron Defense). This pokemon is sadly a bit of a jack of all trades master of none type (a la Infernape) and there are other pokemon who do what it does better (a la Empoleon) but it does get a wide pool of coverage moves and can heal itself with Slack Off, as well as put opponents to sleep with Yawn. Plus, it gets Helping Hand, which makes it a fantastic partner to Garchomp. It’s a very useful Pokemon and should not be slept on. Easy 3rd round pick.

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