I have been considering who I want to put in my new team, and Slaking has always piqued my curiosity. But despite his great Attack and HP stats, his Truant ability (if you call that an ability) seems to throw a wrench in his usefulness.

So does anyone have advice on how to use Slaking effectively?
(Please include a suggestion for an item if you can!)

well there isn't a item for that,but u can try him with a double battle,have a pokemon with follow me and have him usefocuse punch to take things down in one hit most of the time,but if not then get him a quick claw,that way he has a better chance of getting the first hit,if not then try to keep him as virgorth or give him powerful but high acc moves.

though i never used slaking so i really am guessing on this,but i am trying to help.

Thanks for you suggestions. I can see his use in a double battle, but the more I look into it, the less promising he seems in a single.

I was thinking about giving him a Choice Band and raising his attack and speed EV's to their max. If he gets the first hit, he will be devastating. The only down side to that is Truant. I thought if I could switch him after each successful hit, but that would seem like the rest of my team would take to much punishment from any Pokemon that attacks.

Any other ideas?

I always had an idea that you could give slaking the Skill Swap TM that you can pick up on Mt. Pyre, just to torture your opponents. I don't know if they or other moves like this can be taught to him, but it's worth a try. Imagine how fun it would be to trade Slaking's "ablity" for one that could be useful.

The reason I thought of this is because a Ralts once used Skill Swap on his ally, which was a Slaking, in a double battle, and the Ralts started loafing around.

Unfortunately that is not possible. That was one of the first things that I thought of though.

I once had a battle where my Gardevoir's Trace ability copied Truant and Slaking knocked me right out!

well then,give him moves that are status causing,like toxic or if this is on emerald and u can go to battle fonteir then teach him some good moves. like the elemental punches.
i would. i might ask my friend if i can have ruby back now.

Well while his Special Attack stat isn't bad, his Attack stat is what he seems best used for.

then teach him moves like shadow ball(if he can) and slash. they are good.

Yeah, I know to give him good attack moves, but I'm just asking if there is a better way to use him then to just hit the enemy really hard and then switch him out.

well i think vigorth can learn quick attack,not sure if so just give it choice band and give him protins and make sure his nature gives him attack,then just give him moves like the ones i mention. if not then don't use him,just get him to complete your pokedex.

The best/only decent way to use Slaking is in a double battle with another pokemon that knows skill swap, and a third that is also a good battler. Use Skill Swap on Slaking the first turn, then switch your other pokemon in, and proceed to kick butt with a Slaking without Truant, and your other good battler.
In a single battle, he frankly just stinks, IMO.

you could just keep it a vigeroth. it has vital spirit instead of traunt

Slaking is a hit and run pokemon. Use moves like shadow ball, hyper beam (truant), Rock slide, Focus Punch, Aerial Ace and EQ with a choice band. After that, SWITCH IT OUT, before they bring in Dugtrio/Aerodactyl and pwn you with it.

true,for in some battles with trainers u will have double battles and he will be great,nintendo maded him to be double battle matrieal,not single.

though vigorth is differnt.

Right. Slaking's stats are legendary-like (It's max stat is only 20 less then that of Mewtwo's.), but Truant just ruins it, and if there's no way to get rid of it, then why use it?

Slaking isn't that good in-game, but

Slaking @leftovers
~Brick Break (focus punch isn't based on speed; you go last anyway)
~Hyper Beam (he loses a turn anyway)
~EQ
~Shadow Ball

skill swap slaking and change the skill swaper and the ability is gone.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. Just so you guys know, I did look at the Psypoke Movesets before I posted here, but I wanted advice on strategy.

Here's an idea I had for using Slaking in 1 on 1 battles. How well do you think he would work as like a Tank Killer. Boost up his attack, teach him Hyper Beam and have him take down those stubborn tanks.

But what item do you think would work better:

Choice Band: Which will give a massive boost to Hyper Beams power.

-or-

Shell Bell: With the amount of damage he will be dealing, he should be getting a lot back. Enough to survive a few encounters.

I'd go with Choice Band. I mean, with incredible power, what chance does your foe have to launch a KO?