Sweepers are staples of every team. Sweepers are the part of a team that deals damage and does it fast. They're are many different kinds of sweepers out there and many Pokemon doing the same job. Sweepers rely on their speed and attacking stat.
Sweepers 101
As you know Sweepers rely on Speed to deal damage fast. 100 Base Speed is average. Pokemon like Salamence and Staraptor are Pokemon that have 100 base Speed and work well. Pokemon that have higher then 100 Base Speed ( e.g Garchomp, Gengar and Weavile) sometimes work better because of their higher Speed. With D/P bringing many new toys to the game, (e.g Choice Specs, Choice Scarf and Life Orb) some Pokemon (Sceptile with Choice Specs, Medicham/Heracross with Choice Scarf and Any mixed sweeper with Life Orb) got greatly improved because their attacking stat, speed stat or lack of power on attacking from both stats just got better.
While some Pokemon may have fantastic Speed, the still need power to work with it. Some Pokemon like Dugtrio have fantastic Speed but when it comes to attacking he doesn't cut it. 80 Base is way under average. Around 120 is perfect but anything over 100 is also good. With Choice Band, Choice Specs and Life Orb Pokemon like Arcanine, Staraptor, Salamence and Garchomp are massively improved. These items have made some Pokemon so strong they can take down old common walls (e.g Milotic and Claydol) with 1-2 hits, but when in Advance, it was harder to.
EVs and IVs
With most sweepers, you need to have a set amount of EVs into a stat. Commonly, you will find Pokemon with "252/252" EV sets. 255 is the maximum you can put into a stat but at 252 it gets you to the same stat as 255 would while saving you 3 EVs. So if you put 252 EVs into your speed stat and 252 into your attacking stat you have 6 EVs to use still. Most people put them into HP. With some cases, some Pokemon's stat (speed or attacking stat) is so high, they can use less EVs and still make it's stat really high. Pokemon like Aerodactly can sacrifice 36 EVs from Speed and use them into HP or mix it around with it's defenses wile still out running Pokemon like Weavile. Where you spread your EVs really depends on your Pokemon's Stats.
IVs are a lot harder to work with. As you should know Pokemon are born with a set IVs for each stat. Sweepers need their Speed and attacking stats maxed out IVs (not including if they need it lower to get the needed Hidden Power) to do their job better. Sometimes people just worry about those things like Speed and Attacking, so they get KOed quicker. Because they didn't worry about breeding for 31 IVs in each stat, they're sweepers will get KOed really quick. So breeding for 31/31/31/31/31/31 IVs is still the best way to go on all of your Pokemon.
Kinds of Sweepers
Here is a quick link of all the different kinds of Sweepers.
Special Sweepers are Pokemon that use their Speed and Special attack to deal out damage. Using moves like Surf, Ice Bean, Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Draco Meteor and many more. While also using moves like Nasty Plot and Calm Mind and items like Choice Specs to increase their power.
- Choice Specs
Timid
252 Sp.Att / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Synchronize
~ Psychic
~ Energy Ball
~ Shadow Ball
~ Focus Blast
This is a really basic sweeper. Uses Choice Specs to increase its already high Sp.Att. STAB Psychic will hurt many Pokemon that don't resist it or have massive Sp.Def (Blissey).
Physical Sweepers are basically Special Sweepers but use their Attack stat not their Sp.Att stat. Having moves like Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Ice Punch, Ice Shard, Stone Edge and Crunch. Having moves like Sward Dance and Bulk Up also with Choice Band makes them very powerful.
- Life Orb
Adamant
252 Att / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Motor Drive
~ Thunderpunch
~ Cross Chop
~ Earthquake
~ Ice Punch
This set has massive type coverage. Being able to hit 13 out of 17 types makes it powerful. Powered by Life Orb, this Pokemon is 1 hard hitter.
Mixed Sweepers use both their Attack and Sp.Att stats. Being able to hit from both sides they have also been labeled as "Wall Breakers". They can take out Special Walls with Physical moves and Physical Walls with Special moves. Being able to use all Physical and Special they can and stat up moves like Sward Dance and Nasty Plot makes them hard to counter.
- Life Orb
Rash
120 Att / 252 Sp.Att / 136 Spd
Intimidate
~ Brick Break
~ Draco Meteor
~ Fire Blast
~ Dragon Claw
Life Orb adds x1.3 power to all attacks so it makes Mixed Sweepers deadly. Draco Meteor hurts switch ins and Dragon Claw is the most reliable physical STAB move he has. Rash to make Fire Blast hit harder.
Bulky Sweepers are Pokemon that aren't fast but still hit hard. They can attack from what ever attacking stat they want and hit hard with it. Usually having high HP, a average defenses and a high attacking stat. Being slow, they have moves that increase speed or use priority moves or even, their speed doesn't bother them.
- Leftovers
Adamant
212 HP / 16 Att / 180 Def / 100 Spd
Intimidate
~ Earthquake / Stone Edge / Waterfall / Ice Fang
~ Earthquake / Stone Edge / Waterfall / Ice Fang
~ Taunt
~ Dragon Dance
Making a great lead. Taunt Walls, Dance up and sweep. Stone Edge is for other Gyarados, Earthquake for Electrics and coverage, Waterfall for STAB or Ice Fang for Dragons.
Choice Sweepers are Pokemon that rely on using either Choice Band, Specs or Scarf. Either having a high attacking stat or speed stat, the use one of those items to make up for it. Being stuck to use only 1 move till they switch out hurts them because they can get predicted on what move the will use and it won't do much damage to the switch in meaning they have to switch and switching means Stealth Rock, Spike and Toxic Spike damage.
- Choice Scarf
Modest
252 Sp.Att / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Adaptability
~ Try Attack
~ Thunderbolt
~ Ice Beam
~ Hidden Power Fighting / Dark Pulse
Having massive Sp.Att and now the speed to go with it, Porygon-Z is a powerhouse. Try Attack being a massively good STAB attack. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt for BoltBeam but it can be swapped for Dark Pulse and HP Fighting with one of those being the filler move.
SubPunch sweepers make use of the 2 moves, Substitute and Focus Punch. Setting up Substitute by switching in on a Special Wall then when they switch you make your sub then Focus Punch the switch in or use your filler moves. Pokemon with high HP and Attack work great for this kind of sweeping.
- Toxic Orb
Adamant
252 Att / 200 HP / 56 Spd
Poison Heal
~ Substitute
~ Focus Punch
~ Seed Bomb
~ Stone Edge
Set up your sub and attack. Focus Punch and Seed Bomb are great STAB moves and Stone Edge is for Gyarados and Flying-Types the might resist your moves (Salamence).
SubSeed sweepers are more of the annoying sweepers. They make a sub then use Leech Seed to steel your HP. SubSeed sweepers should be quite fast to put up more subs and seed more Pokemon. This is a great set to work with Stealth Rock, Spikes and greatly Toxic Spikes (who likes losing HP to Poison and Leech Seed?) because they will switch a lot get away from the Leech Seed. Switching a lot will hurt them because of Stealth Rock and Spikes. Making quick, fast subs help a lot with this set.
- Leftovers
Timid
252 Spd / 56 HP / 200 Def
Overgrow
~ Substitute
~ Leech Seed
~ Energy Ball/Grass Knot
~ Hidden Power Fire
Sub up then Seed away. They might send in a grass type to stop the seeds so use Hidden Power Fire to hurt them. Energy Ball or Grass Knot are your STAB attacks.
Endure sets uses the power of Endure, a berry and moves like Reversal. Endure should leave you with 1 HP left to kick in your berry (most likely Salac) then since the boost will increase your speed, you use Reversal to deal heaps of damage, then sometimes a priority move to finish them off.
- Salac Berry
Adamant
252 Att / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Inner Focus
~ Endure
~ Reversal
~ Extremespeed
~ Bullet Punch
Endure up, Reversal for higher HP Pokemon then fly with Extremespeed or Bullet Punch to finish off weaker Pokemon.
If I have missed a kind of sweeper please e-mail me!
