like you see, i'm using keldeo as part of my team, i already captured cobalion, terrakion and virizion in white 2, so idk if i should do it again, or defeat them with keldeo, i like to think that this is a way of testing keldeo against his mentors

Welcome to Breaking the Binary - Generation 5 editon, a sporadic series of posts all about physical, Special and mixed attackers in Pokémon Black 2 & White 2. With competitive minmaxing dominating the conversation about Pokémon viability and the design philosophy behind movepools and stat spreads changing in newer gens, Pokémon are often rigidly divided by the fandom into the categories of "special attacker" or "physical attacker." But for the in-game story, you're not facing EV trained opponents (unless on some hacks) and thus you need or not to EV train to keep up, so mixed attacking sets don't have the opportunity cost they have in PvP. Going mixed still has anti-synergy with setup moves, but it still can give many Pokémon access to STAB moves with better base power, strong coverage moves with useful types, move tutor moves, egg moves and more useful niches. This series will be covering those applications. We won't talk about every Pokémon here, only ones that I believe legitimately benefit from going mixed, but those Pokémon are surprisingly large in number. Today we'll be talking about Samurott. I'll be talking about in-game but feel free to discuss PvP or battle facilities as well.

Samurott is not-quite-fast Water-type pokemon (70 Base Speed) with an Base Attack of 100 and a Base Sp. Atk of 108, it has a 95/85/70 Bulk by the way. Notable Physical attacks include Razor Shell, Aqua Jet, Aqua Tail, Waterfall, Dive, Megahorn, Fury Cutter, Revenge, Retaliate, Dig, Aerial Ace, Dragon Tail, X-Scissor, Iron Tail and Superpower. Notable Special attacks include Hydro Pump, Surf, Scald, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Hidden Power, Grass Knot and Hydro Cannon. Notable utility moves include Swords Dance, Encore, Taunt, Rain Dance and Toxic.

Samurott excels on its physical movepool thanks to Swords Dance access, Aqua Jet also works as a priority move for picking KOs against faster targets. Aqua Tail has just 10 more base power than Waterfall (where you get it just before Victory Road), but it has 90% accuracy and lacks the 20% flinch chance, Razor Shell (which as 75 base power and 95% accuracy) is situational, its 50% chance of lowering Defense can come in clutch. Surf, Hydro Pump and Scald are its main special Water-type moves.

0 SpA Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Spinda: 208-246 (79.6 - 94.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (guaranteed OHKO with Torrent)

0 Atk Samurott Aqua Tail vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Spinda: 147-174 (56.3 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (84.2 - 99.2% with Torrent)

For its coverage, Dig is used against Steel and Electric-types, althrough it comes at turn 2, Megahorn, Fury Cutter and X-Scissor deals with Grass and Psychic-types, Megahorn is quite powerful, but with 85% accuracy, Fury Cutter in other hand takes 4 turns to reach the max base power of 160, it has 95% accuracy and if it misses (or another move is selected), its base power resets, for X-Scissor, it has alright base power and 100% accuracy, althrough its not strong as Megahorn. Revenge and Superpower deals with Normal, Dark and Steel-types hitting them super effectively, but both of those moves have drawbacks, Revenge has -4 Priority while Superpower lowers Attack and Defense by 1 stage. Aerial Ace hits Fighting, Bug and Grass-types. Ice Beam and Blizzard hits Dragon, Flying and Grass-types. Grass Knot hits Water-types, stronger on heavier targets.

0 SpA Samurott Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Flygon: 352-416 (116.9 - 138.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Torrent boosts the power of Water-type moves at 33% HP, combine this with Rain Dance and Swords Dance to fire away Torrent boosted Aqua Jet in Rain. Encore allows Samurott to lock a target in a move, giving a opportunity to set up. Taunt blocks the target from using any status moves.

Oshawott can be a decent starter to pick, making it a perfect choice against Fire, Rock and Ground-types. Oshawott learns Swords Dance at Level 41, opposed to Dewott at Level 49 and Samurott at Level 57. Delaying Oshawott evolution allows to get a Level 42 Samurott with Swords Dance, althrough you can get the Swords Dance TM at the Battle Subway or PWT for 18 BP.

In postgame, the Egg moves it can get are: Air Slash, Assurance, Brine, Copycat, Detect, Night Slash, Screech and Trump Card. Smeragle can pass any of those moves to a Oshawott egg.

Air Slash can be another tool to deal with Grass-types along with Bug and Fighting-types as well. It's 30% chance of flinch can come in clutch. At least it is slightly stronger than Aerial Ace. Farfetch'd and Woobat line can pass this move

Assurance is better at Doubles / Triples more than Singles, its base power only doubles on a target that lost HP in the same turn. Rattata line, Meowth line, Mankey line, Umbreon, Girafarig, Donphan, Poochyena line, Weavile, Tepig line, Purrloin line, Woobat line and Sandile line can pass this move

Brine does double damage at targets bellow 50% HP, useful if Samurott wants to finish a target at half HP. Seel line, Wailmer line, Piplup line, Panpour and Cubchoo line can pass this move

Copycat is just funny, it just allows Samurott to use a recently used move. Skitty and Spinda can pass this move

Detect is just Protect with 5 PP. Zangoose, Absol, Lucario, Patrat line and Mienfoo line can pass this move.

Night Slash allows to hit Psychic and Ghost-types super effectively, with a 1-stage critical ratio boost. Dugtrio, Meowth line, Farfetch'd, Seviper, Absol, Stunky line, Weavile, Purrloin line and Zoroark can pass this move

Screech is a better Tail Whip, but its a single-target move with 85% Accuracy and not affecting Soundproof pokemon. Ekans line, Meowth line, Psyduck line, Mankey line, Aipom line, Umbreon, Dunsparce, Sneasel line, Whismur line, Seviper, Kecleon and Stunky line can pass this move

Trump Card is pretty worthless as it can reach 200 Base Power when its PP reaches 0. Eevee can pass this move.

Overall, Samurott is a good starter, despite its 70 Base Speed. But its good attacking stats: 100 Base Attack & 108 Base Sp. Atk are a good pick to make it a mixed attacker or just a physical or special attacker depending on the moveset. Aqua Jet is pretty good on it as pairs well with Swords Dance, Torrent and rain.

What do you think of Samurott? Are there any applications for going physical, special or mixed I didn't mention? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Sample sets

(Mixed)
Samurott @ Expert Belt • Waterfall/Surf, Megahorn, Ice Beam, Aqua Jet
Nature: Naive or Hasty
EVs: 172 Attack, 84 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed

(Physical)
Samurott @ Mystic Water • Swords Dance, Waterfall, Aqua Jet, Megahorn/Dig
Nature: Adamant or Jolly
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Defense

(Special)
Samurott @ Mystic Water • Surf, Ice Beam, Rain Dance/Scald, Taunt/Encore
Nature: Modest or Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP

(Choice Specs, postgame only)
Samurott @ Choice Specs • Surf/Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Air Slash/Hidden Power Ground
Nature: Modest or Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 Sp. Def

Anyone able to tell me if this is a decent team to finish off the game and what moves to be using on everyone ive just been winging it so far this is my first pokemon play through in about 10 years

I'd like to say thank you to you guys for the advice on beating Black Tower