What it does
Sludge Bomb is a Poison-type special move with standard damage, 100% accuracy, and a chance to inflict Poison. Poison hits Grass and Fairy for super-effective damage. Both types are consistent presences in the current doubles meta, so the coverage doesn't sit idle.
The poison chance is meaningful against bulkier targets. Poison drains HP at end of each turn and persists through switches — a poisoned support Pokémon like Sylveon starts counting down faster, compressing the number of turns it can act. Against frailer targets, the base damage matters more and poison is upside.
100% accuracy. No risk there. Just aim and click it into the right matchup.
Single-target in doubles — full damage on one Pokémon.
Who runs it
Venusaur at 94% uses Sludge Bomb as its Poison STAB alongside Grass-type attacks — two-type coverage that handles Water, Ground, Fairy, and Grass. The Fairy coverage is the key reason it's near-universal: Fairy-types that freely click into Venusaur's Grass moves get punished hard by the super-effective Sludge Bomb.
Gengar at 92% pairs Sludge Bomb with Shadow Ball. Ghost hits Psychic and Ghost; Poison hits Grass and Fairy. Together those two moves cover a very wide swathe of special-defensive archetypes in doubles. Gengar's Speed means it usually fires first.
Roserade at 93% mirrors Venusaur's dual-type coverage. Grass/Poison typing with high Special Attack makes both STAB moves hit hard.
Glimmora at 80% combines Sludge Bomb with Toxic Debris, which scatters Toxic Spikes when hit by physical moves. The ability punishes physical attackers who try to remove Glimmora quickly, and Sludge Bomb adds direct offensive pressure on top.
Zoroark at 52% uses it as coverage. Goodra at 15% occasionally runs it as a Fairy and Grass answer on its otherwise Dragon-focused set.
How to use it
Fairy-type leads are the primary targets. Super-effective Sludge Bomb into a Fairy threat is often more efficient than a neutral hit — Fairy is one of the strongest defensive and offensive types in the meta, and Poison is one of few clean answers to it.
In doubles, when a Grass-type and Fairy-type are both on the opposing team, having your Sludge Bomb user in the selection gives you a solid match-up angle against both from one slot.
Poison also persists on switch-out, which is worth tracking. A poisoned opposing support Pokémon loses value as the turns accumulate — once poisoned, even if it exits the field, it comes back still poisoned.
Tips & strategy
Steel-types are immune to Poison. A Steel-heavy opposing team completely walls your Sludge Bomb offense — factor that into team construction and make sure you have Ground or Fire coverage available.
The Gengar pairing of Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball is worth knowing well. Most special-defensive Pokémon that resist Ghost are hit super-effectively by Poison, and vice versa — the two types cover each other's resists almost perfectly.