Forretress

Forretress has established itself as a strong pillar of the ADV metagame due to its access to both Spikes and Rapid Spin. Its Steel / Bug typing, solid resilience, and role compression give common Toxic + Spikes + Sandstorm teams versatility in fitting other Pokemon. Forretress can use its good bulk to set up Spikes on Pokemon that cannot threaten it effectively, such as Skarmory, most Metagross, most Blissey, Milotic, some Celebi, some Zapdos, defensive Swampert, and Porygon2. With Pursuit support, it can also be an effective counter to many TSS teams due to its prowess as a spinner.

Forretress is commonly compared to Skarmory and Cloyster as a Spiker and Claydol and defensive Starmie as a spinner. In comparison to Skarmory, Forretress is much more difficult to trap with Magneton, as Forretress's Earthquake OHKOes variants not specifically EVed to survive it. In addition, Modest Magneton's Hidden Power Fire has only a 25% chance to OHKO Forretress, whereas Magneton's Magnet-boosted Thunderbolt is much more likely to eliminate Skarmory. Forretress is much more resilient than Cloyster due to its Toxic and sand immunity as well as superior special bulk. As a spinner, Forretress is a better counter to Skarmory than Claydol and Starmie due to its Toxic immunity; Claydol can run Refresh but is vulnerable to Skarmory's Taunt. Skarmory can still use Taunt on Forretress to prevent Spikes or actively wear it down with Drill Peck, however.

Forretress's primary faults lie in its tendency to get worn down, weakness to specially defensive Gengar, and relative passivity. Forretress performs worse as a physical wall than Skarmory despite its numerical bulk advantage, as it can't phaze, typically can't fit Protect to passively recover health, and is damaged by Spikes. Cloyster's superior Speed, resistance to Water, and immunity to being trapped by Magneton allow it to be used on offensive teams that can't fit the rigid support Forretress teams need. Unlike Claydol, Forretress is not immune to the Spikes it is removing, and unlike Starmie, it cannot use a recovery move nor heal status by switching. Forretress is also vulnerable to surprise Fire-type moves from Pokemon such as Metagross and Blissey, which often greatly weaken or OHKO it. Additionally, due to the prominence of specially defensive Gengar, which can't be OHKOed by Tyranitar's Pursuit, Forretress will struggle to use Rapid Spin, as its sets typically have very weak or no options to hurt it. Forretress is also quite easy to set up on with Pokemon like Curse Snorlax, Substitute Heracross, and Jirachi, as its only counterplay is to use Explosion or hit them with weak coverage moves.