Pokémon Sun and Moon: Competitive Judge A Pokémon

Tapu Koko

Typing: /

Abilities: Electric Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 115 Atk / 85 Def / 95 SpA / 75 SpD / 130 Spe

Sample Sets

/ Tapu Koko @ Magnet / Life Orb

Ability: Electric Surge

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Thunderbolt

- Dazzling Gleam

- Hidden Power Ice

- Grass Knot / U-turn / Taunt

/ Tapu Koko @ Magnet / Life Orb

Ability: Electric Surge

EVs: 4 Atk /252 SpA / 252 Spe

Naive Nature

- Thunderbolt

- Dazzling Gleam

- Brave Bird

- Hidden Power Ice / Grass Knot

Where's the potential?

Step aside Thundurus, you're going to have some serious competition this generation as Tapu Koko enters the scene. While its 95 Special Attack may not seem appealing at first glance, its signature ability, Electric Surge, which sets down Electric Terrain upon entering the battlefield, makes up for it, giving it ridiculous firepower from its Electric-type attacks, leaving few things to switch in safely. Its blistering Speed tier of base 130 lets it outpace pretty much the entire unboosted metagame, even some Speed demons such as Greninja and Tornadus-T. With a good offensive movepool consisting of Grass Knot, Hidden Powers, and its hard-hitting dual STAB attacks, Tapu Koko devastates offensive almost singlehandedly. It even has options such as Brave Bird, which heavily damages Mega Venusaur, Tangrowth, and Amoonguss switch-ins, Taunt, and U-turn, which prevents Dugtrio from trapping it. It also has access to Roost, which lets it recover off all sorts of residual damage between Sand, Hail, Life Orb, and Brave Bird recoil. With all of these positives it possesses, there is little doubt that Tapu Koko will be one of the go-to Electric-types of Generation 7's OU.

What may hold it back?

While Tapu Koko certainly isn't lacking in offensive options, without the power boost from Electric Terrain, these coverage moves can be quite weak coming off of its 95 base Special Attack or its uninvested 115 Attack, especially if using Magnet, preventing it from breaking through Pokémon such as specially defensive Excadrill, Hippowdon if not running Grass Knot, Ferrothorn if lacking Hidden Power Fire, and Alola Marowak. On top of this, Tapu Koko is a bit on the fragile side, is prone to being worn down from hazards and residual damage, and shouldn't be expected to switch in to many attacks, even resisted ones. Opposing Electric-types can even take advantage of the Electric Terrain to put massive dents in your team, possibly even chunking Tapu Koko due to its low defenses.

Toxapex

Typing: /

Abilities: Merciless / Limber / Regenerator

Stats: 50 HP / 63 Atk / 152 Def / 52 SpA / 142 SpD / 35 Spe

Sample Sets

Toxapex @ Black Sludge

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Scald

- Toxic Spikes

- Haze

- Recover

Where's the potential?

Toxapex is one of the greatest additions to OU in Gen 7. Its great bulk combined with its typing allows it to check some of the most dangerous threats at the moment such as Genesect, Greninja, and even Mega Charizard X because it also has access to Haze to control any setup sweeper. Toxapex is a Pokémon that can fit very well on stall or balance teams due to its ability to set up Toxic Spikes and wear down opposing teams, access to Recover for longevity, and ability to pivot around thanks to its amazing ability Regenerator, which is really good for scouting moves while healing almost all the damage taken. The 80 EVs in Special Defense allow Toxapex to always take a Mega Alakazam's Psychic, with the rest being dumped into Defense to handle the physical threats. Another option for its moveset could be Rocky Helmet over Black Sludge; this way it can inflict chip damage on physical attackers. Also, Toxic over Toxic Spikes works for a more consistent source of residual damage.

What may hold it back?

Toxapex is well known for its great defensive capabilities; however, its poor Special Attack means it cannot pressure switch-ins, and due to this, it can be used as setup fodder if it doesn't pack Haze. Its Speed is also a downside, as it can easily be overwhelmed by multiple physical attackers without being given the option to heal before the next hit.

Tapu Lele

Typing: /

Abilities: Psychic Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 85 Atk / 75 Def / 135 SpA / 115 SpD / 95 Spe

Sample Sets

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs

Ability: Psychic Surge

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Psyshock

- Moonblast

- Focus Blast / Hidden Power Fire

- Shadow Ball

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Psychic Surge

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Psychic

- Moonblast

- Focus Blast / Hidden Power Fire

- Shadow Ball

Where's the potential?

With its impeccable ability of being able to set up a new terrain, Psychic Terrain, Tapu Lele allows Psychic-type moves do more damage, allowing it to easily get STAB damage in, and even protects grounded Pokémon from priority moves. With Choice Specs and Choice Scarf, it can easily dish out heavy damage quickly and efficiently, with a massive Special Attack stat and a large movepool to stop certain bulky and priority move-using Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor, respectively. Reaching a solid Speed tier, Tapu Lele is able to put big dents in foes with a STAB Psychic Terrain-boosted Psychic or Psyshock, and it can serve as a late-game cleaner when necessary.

What may hold it back?

Tapu Lele doesn't have many flaws, but its biggest flaws are Psychic Terrain affecting its own team, preventing priority-using teammates from using their attacks, which can badly affect sweepers such as Belly Drum Azumarill and Swords Dance Mega Scizor. On top of this, Tapu Lele's most common sets utilize Choice items, meaning that it can often lock itself into an undesirable which opens up many opportunities for Pokémon that resist the move Tapu Lele locks into to switch in and either damage it or trap it.

Celesteela

Typing: /

Ability: Beast Boost

Stats: 97 HP / 101 Atk / 103 Def / 107 SpA / 101 SpD / 61 Spe

Sample Sets

Celesteela @ Leftovers

Ability: Beast Boost

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Sassy Nature

- Leech Seed

- Flamethrower / Earthquake

- Protect

- Heavy Slam

Where's the potential?

There are a lot of things working in favor of Celesteela. Its typing in conjunction with its natural bulk gives it the potential to wall and check a lot of key threats such as Genesect, Landorus, and Tapu Lele, to name a few. Its movepool is not wide by any means, but it has access moves like Flamethrower, which deters Steel-types that could otherwise set up and beat Celesteela, like Kartana and Mega Scizor. Leech Seed allows Celesteela to annoy a large number of Pokémon in the meta and provides an additional form of recovery, allowing Celesteela to stay around for a long time and wall the Pokémon it needs to wall. Heavy Slam is a very good STAB move, and since Celesteela is the heaviest Pokémon in the game, it has maximum Base Power against almost the whole tier, making it a good option for hitting neutral targets.

What may hold it back?

Not a whole lot really. Except its potential to be exploited by Electric-types such as Tapu Koko and Xurtikree, not too much can reliably shut down Celesteela, though it is far from unbeatable. Its lack of proper recovery hurts it, as it can struggle to heal after taking hits from the likes of Landorus and Genesect. Magnezone can also trap Celesteela and deal a huge amount of damage to it with Thunderbolt and Volt Switch. Also, Pokémon Celesteela likes to switch into such as Clefable, Landorus, Landorus-T, and Mega Alakazam all tend to run Knock Off from time to time, which means they can shut down and cripple Celesteela easily.

Tapu Bulu

Typing: /

Abilities: Grassy Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 130 Atk / 115 Def / 85 SpA / 95 SpD / 75 Spe

Sample Sets

Tapu Bulu @ Choice Band

Ability: Grassy Surge

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Wood Hammer

- Stone Edge / Horn Leech

- Superpower

- Zen Headbutt

Where's the potential?

Tapu Bulu is an interesting choice, as it is one of the new four Terrain setters in Gen 7. Similar to the other Tapus, it has a partial Fairy typing, a similar stat spread, and of course a terrain-inducing ability. The thing that instantly comes to mind for many is its high base Attack, which makes for a perfect user of Grassy Terrain-boosted STAB Wood Hammers, making it an extremely hard-hitting threat capable of putting huge dents even into 4x-resistant targets such as Mega Scizor. Along with its absurd offensive power, its movepool backs it up with great options that allow Tapu Bulu to nail common threats that 4x resist its STAB Wood Hammer such as Superpower for Heatran and Celesteela, Stone Edge for Charizard and Volcarona, and Zen Headbutt for Mega Venusaur. Tapu Bulu is decently fast too, outspeeding many defensive Pokémon in OU and having good enough natural bulk to pressure typical offensive Pokémon like Tapu Koko, Garchomp, and Excadrill.

What may hold it back?

Although Tapu Bulu has decent Speed, it could definitely go a lot further, as Tapu Bulu finds itself outsped by many threats such as Tapu Lele, Greninja, maximum Speed Heatran, Genesect, and Weavile, all of which threaten it with strong super effective STAB moves that are more than capable of taking it out. Tapu Bulu also finds itself using Choice Band most often, which can lead to it constantly locking itself into an non-optimal move choice, which screams setup opportunities for the likes of Mega Charizard X and Volcarona; on top of being fairly easy to exploit, Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain can be a double-edged sword, as although it provides passive healing for Tapu Bulu and its grounded teammates, it can provide additional healing to the opposing team, as well as weakening Earthquake, which can be taken advantage of by opposing Ground-weak Pokémon such as Heatran.

Solgaleo

Typing: /

Ability: Full Metal Body

Stats: 137 HP / 137 Atk / 107 Def / 113 SpA / 89 SpD / 97 Spe

Sample Sets

Solgaleo @ Leftovers

Ability: Full Metal Body

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Sunsteel Strike

- Earthquake

- Toxic

- Morning Sun

Where's the potential?

Solgaleo's typing comes with its uses of being a usable check to Xerneas as well as the numerous Psychic-types of the tier, and it also has the bulk to take on things like support Arceus without a scratch due to the Toxic immunity as well as reliable recovery in Morning Sun. Solgaleo's coverage is nothing short of expansive, as it is able to hit just about everything in the Ubers metagame if it so desires, but the problem is only having four moveslots to make use of all the possibilities. There are plenty of unexplored Solgaleo sets, with possibilities of utilizing various Z-Moves to boost its offensive capabilities, including boosting moves such as the dangerous... Z-Splash.

What may hold it back?

Despite having a large HP stat, Solgaleo's defensive stats are rather average for Ubers standards, meaning that a conscious choice has to be made on what direction to take a set in. The biggest issue with Solgaleo is that despite having a useful typing in some cases, its weaknesses are common and deadly. Pairing Solgaleo with Primal Groudon already brings a worrying Ground-type weakness to a build. Being weak to a newly buffed Yveltal running around with its newfound immunity to Prankster moves in SM makes it just another threat Solgaleo has to be careful to avoid giving a free turn to... and boy are there many that it has to avoid. When compared to the other Steel-types of Ubers, Solgaleo is almost a "jack of all trades, master of none." It has no real utility such as Spikes, or just much of a presence in battle at all, as it consistently has to watch out for its HP to stay out of range of a +2 Focus Blast from Geomancy Xerneas, rendering its use and playstyle pretty badly limited, unless Solgaleo is played offensively, which is when opportunity cost questions are raised. On top of that, Full Metal Body's only real practical use in Ubers is that it prevents Intimidate Salamence and Landorus-T getting easy momentum on Solgaleo, but yet it still has to play carefully around these threats if they can switch in via other methods.

Lunala

Typing: /

Ability: Shadow Shield

Stats: 137 HP / 113 Attack / 89 Def / 137 SpA / 107 SpD / 97 Spe

Sample Sets

Lunala @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Shadow Shield

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest Nature

- Moongeist Beam

- Ice Beam

- Focus Blast

- Psychic

Where's the potential?

Lunala is a Pokémon with lots of potential. Its well-rounded, efficiently distributed stats combined with its access to various utility and attacking moves open up various offensive and defensive movesets. Shadow Shield further enhances its threat level, as Lunala is extremely difficult to take down while Shadow Shield is active and can punish its would-be checks with its stellar offensive prowess. Its Ghost typing grants it not only a STAB attack to be feared but also notable immunities to Extreme Speed, Rapid Spin, and Shadow Tag. Base 97 is a decent Speed tier, enabling it to outpace the somewhat crowded base 90 Speed group and Rayquaza. Giving Lunala a Choice Scarf also allows it to outrun Naive Deoxys-A without a Speed-boosting nature, making it a great check to Psychic spam teams.

What may hold it back?

Psychic / Ghost is a little confusing defensively, as it barely grants Lunala resistances and makes its defensive niche somewhat unclear. It also leaves Lunala with 4x weaknesses to Dark and Ghost—the former weakness is especially crippling, as Pursuit can quickly obliterate Lunala without Shadow Shield up. Keep in mind that Lunala does possess the tools to deal with Pursuit trappers. Furthermore, base 97 Speed, while moderately high, is still slower than that of a sizable chunk of Ubers. There are threats out there that are faster than Lunala and can target its weaknesses, such as Yveltal, Arceus-Dark, and Arceus. Base 137 Special Attack is also not super high by Ubers standards, and Lunala may sometimes find itself a little lacking in raw power, especially if it's running a Choice Scarf set.

Tapu Lele

Typing: /

Abilities: Psychic Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 85 Atk / 75 Def / 135 SpA / 115 SpD / 95 Spe

Sample Sets

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender

Ability: Psychic Surge

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid / Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Moonblast

- Psyshock

- Psychic / Nature's Madness

- Shadow Ball / Taunt

Where's the potential?

Psychic Surge seems to be a great ability that provides support to offensive Psychics such as Deoxys-A and Mewtwo. The elimination of priority moves such as Extreme Speed, Shadow Sneak, and Sucker Punch can make revenge killing Deoxys-A and Mewtwo difficult for hyper offense and bulky offense teams. Tapu Lele itself has some offensive potency due to Terrain-boosted Psychic STAB attacks, Moonblast for Dark-types, Shadow Ball for opposing Psychics, Taunt for stallmons, and Nature's Madness for denting walls. It also has some other interesting moves to play around with such as Aromatherapy.

What may hold it back?

Tapu Lele doesn't provide very much defensive synergy outside of being able to nullify priority attacks, and it has no status or hazard immunities. It's a Fairy-type that can't really switch into Dark-types due to its Psychic half. It also can't really check any offensive threats at all due to its low physical bulk and lack of useful resistances. Even Tapu Lele's prospects as a Mewtwo check are eliminated due to Psychic Surge and a poor Defense stat. Building with Tapu Lele also poses an issue when it comes to adequately covering threats, as it and the offensive Psychic you pair it with start a team off with two Pokémon that have limited defensive synergy.

Zygarde-C

Typing: /

Ability: Power Construct

Stats: 216 HP / 100 Atk / 121 Def / 91 SpA / 95 SpD / 85 Spe

Sample Sets

Zygarde-C @ Leftovers

Ability: Power Construct

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Impish Nature

- Thousand Arrows

- Dragon Tail

- Rest

- Sleep Talk

Where's the potential?

Say hello to the bulkiest Pokémon in the game. With unmatched statistical physical bulk and a special bulk rivaling that of Primal Kyogre and Ho-Oh, Zygarde is capable of withstanding repeated boosted hits from some of Ubers' deadliest attackers and excels in long games. The sample set given emphasizes its physical bulk, walling the likes of Arceus, Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Mega Salamence. To give a rough idea of just how physically bulky Zygarde-C is, it can survive three max roll Choice Band Ho-Oh Brave Birds, allowing it to cycle Rests while Ho-Oh destroys itself through recoil damage. Zygarde-C's potential doesn't end there, of course. It can also be a potent sweeper with access to Dragon Dance and Coil, and its phenomenal special bulk can allow it to live through super effective special attacks. Thanks to Thousand Arrows, Zygarde-C does not need to worry about coverage and appreciates having a moveslot open for a utility move. Zygarde-C has a lot of freedom in customizing its bulk, and it may be its defining characteristic as the Ubers metagame develops.

What may hold it back?

For something that's clearly advertised as being super powerful in its Dex entries and its ability, Zygarde-C's raw power is very lacking and can easily leave it a momentum drain without additional solid backbones of the team. Even though Zygarde-C can take on many powerful sweepers, it is bait for the greatest sweeper, Xerneas, while taking multiple Attack boosts to even remotely threaten most defensive Pokémon. Its typing also leaves it especially vulnerable to Ice Beam from a wide range of Ubers, such as Deoxys-A, Mewtwo, Primal Kyogre, Arceus-Water, and Lunala, and surprise super effective attacks such as Draco Meteor from Rayquaza and Ice Beam from Normal Arceus are not fun to deal with. Finally, Power Construct may occasionally be awkward to trigger, as it activates only at the end of the turn. One example where this effect ordering is a problem is that if Zygarde were to take a hit that drops it below 50% and uses Rest on that turn, it'll go back to full health and Power Construct will not trigger.

Celesteela

Typing: /

Ability: Beast Boost

Stats: 97 HP / 101 Atk / 103 Def / 107 SpA / 101 SpD / 61 Spe

Sample Sets

Celesteela @ Leftovers

Ability: Beast Boost

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- Leech Seed

- Substitute / Wide Guard / Flamethrower

- Heavy Slam

- Protect / Wide Guard

Where's the potential?

Celesteela is one of the most viable options among the newly introduced Ultra Beasts. Steel / Flying is a very solid defensive typing, and Celesteela supplements that with solid defensive stats all around the board. Celesteela runs a lot of Special Defense because most Pokémon in the tier that attempt to damage it do so with special attacks because Steel / Flying allows it resist attacks from most powerful physical threats such as Mega Salamence and Tapu Bulu. It is able to avoid a 2HKO from Heatran and Volcanion's Heat Wave thanks to Leftovers, as well as OHKOs from Heatran's Overheat, Life Orb Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt in Electric Terrain, and even Mega Charizard Y's Heat Wave. With a specially defensive spread Celesteela will gain even further boosts in Special Defense each time it gets KOs thanks to its ability Beast Boost, which gives its main checks even further trouble getting rid of it. Celesteela generally only runs one attacking move, Heavy Slam. This move is extremely reliable because it is a Steel STAB move that has 120 Base Power on almost everything barring Pokémon like Tyranitar and Mudsdale, due to Celesteela weighing 999kg. This easily picks up a KO on Tapu Lele and 2HKOes almost everything that takes it for neutral damage, including bulky threats like Mega Kangaskhan. Celesteela functions very much like a Ferrothorn with a higher Attack stat, in that it spreads Leech Seeds to slowly chip away at the opposing team while healing itself, as well as timing its strong STAB move to get KOs between attempts to drain away at the opposing team's health. With Substitute, Celesteela is a lot more focused on setting up to stall out the opponent compared to Ferrothorn, as well as making it difficult for its checks to KO it immediately. Wide Guard is also pretty solid as an option on Celesteela because it is one of the best Landorus-T counters in the tier, which enables it to freely switch into Earthquake and then just spam Wide Guard to block it in the following turns. Wide Guard also helps it stall out opposing Fire-types that may either rely on or only use Heat Wave as their STAB attack and help its partners to get off attacks.

What may hold it back?

The bamboo warship's biggest issue are opposing Electric- and Fire-types, which are pretty prevalent in the tier. Some examples of these are Tapu Koko, Thundurus, Rotom-W, Heatran, Volcanion, and Mega Charizard Y. It is actually very important that the Celesteela user prevent opposing Substitute Fires such as Heatran from freely outspeeding Celesteela and getting up a Substitute if they pose a threat to their team. This is one of the best ways for someone to take advantage of Celesteela just sitting on the field, because it poses almost no threat to opposing Fire-types unless it is either behind a Substitute or is able to get off a Leech Seed on them as they come in. Pairing Celesteela with Landorus-T is very common because of Landorus-T's ability to deal with most of the listed threats barring Rotom-W, as well as being an Earthquake partner.

Necrozma

Typing:

Ability: Prism Armor

Stats: 97 HP / 107 Atk / 101 Def / 127 SpA / 89 SpD / 79 Spe

Sample Sets

Necrozma @ Safety Goggles

Ability: Prism Armor

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA

Bold Nature

- Psychic

- Calm Mind

- Moonlight

- Protect

Where's the potential?

Necrozma is such an intriguing prospect from a theoretical standpoint due to the combination of solid defensive stats, an incredible ability in Prism Armor, and its very good base 127 Special Attack. This blend of characteristics, when used in conjunction with Calm Mind, turns Necrozma into a very frightening setup sweeper, as Calm Mind boosting both Special Attack and Special Defense allows Necrozma to focus on investing in its HP and Defense stats, much in the same way Calm Mind Cresselia was utilized in ORAS. Though Necrozma typically only runs Psychic as an attacking move, it still is capable of dealing with a large portion of the metagame due to the relative scarcity of viable Dark-type Pokémon, as well as most teams having various methods of dealing with Steel-type Pokémon.

What may hold it back?

It's not Tapu Lele. Necrozma is burdened by two primary shortcomings: an incredibly shallow range of special attacks and an inability to deal with Steel-type Pokémon. Necrozma, though oriented towards specially attacking moves stat-wise, is limited to four viable picks: Dark Pulse, Flash Cannon, Psychic, and Psyshock. The other options are all very fringe choices that may see use as tech options, but even then, they would only see use on very rare occasions. The other primary issue is that though very few Pokémon are capable of dealing with Necrozma once it has established itself in the game, usually after 1 or 2 Calm Minds, many are able to inhibit or discourage it from doing so, notably Steel-type Pokémon such as Aegislash and Genesect, and the Dark-type Alolan Muk. This issue ties in to Necrozma's movepool shortcomings, as Prism Armor, which is an excellent ability, finds itself not being used to great capacity as Necrozma has very little to threaten Pokémon that it has a type weakness against.

Tapu Bulu

Typing: /

Abilities: Grassy Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 130 Atk / 115 Def / 85 SpA / 95 SpD / 75 Spe

Sample Sets

/ Tapu Bulu @ Life Orb / Grassium Z

Ability: Grassy Surge

EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 8 SpD / 92 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Wood Hammer

- Taunt / Stone Edge / Horn Leech

- Superpower

- Protect

Where's the potential?

One of the Alolan guardian deities, Tapu Bulu makes for a fascinating new force in the SM DOU metagame. With its base 130 Attack, a possible Life Orb, and Grassy Surge, which brings up Grassy Terrain automatically, Tapu Bulu dishes out possibly the strongest hits in the entire metagame in its ridiculously boosted Wood Hammer, capable of dealing major damage to even resisting targets. With its raw power and workable base 75 Speed, Tapu Bulu stands as a fairly effective attacker. It also has access to Taunt, which lets it stop setup from foes that it cannot outright KO, and decent coverage moves for resistant threats in Superpower and Stone Edge, with the former letting it hit Steel-types Heatran and Celesteela and the latter allowing it dent, if not KO, Fire- and Flying-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Zapdos (though one needs to be in the right conditions such as Tailwind and Trick Room to safely beat the former). Still, with Wood Hammer already doing a lot to most targets, Horn Leech can also prove to be an effective option on it, giving it a good STAB attacking option that recovers HP rather than lower it with recoil. Tapu Bulu's typing can occasionally prove nifty, with Grass / Fairy handily letting it take on Water-, Electric-, and Dragon- types such as Rotom-W, Tapu Koko, and Hydreigon, while its Grassy Terrain can support its team (including itself) with passive recovery, which is especially useful with Substitute attackers; Grassy Terrain also has the added effect of weakening Earthquakes, allowing teammates, especially Ground-weak ones such as Jirach and Volcanion, to have some breathing room against the likes of Landorus-T. For this reason, some people are even using Landorus-I or Landorus-T with Earth Power as a primary Ground STAB attack on some teams.

What may hold it back?

One might feel that with Life Orb and Wood Hammer, Tapu Bulu will fall too quickly to recoil; while this is remedied somewhat by Grassy Terrain and possibly Horn Leech, all the recoil will still add up and apply pressure on Tapu Bulu. As an attacker, it's also quite flawed, as its Speed and coverage render it somewhat ineffective to more threats than one would like. Its STAB attacks still get walled by Steel-, Fire-, Flying-, Dragon-, and Poison-types in the metagame, forcing it to rely on its coverage moves rather than nuke foes outright with Wood Hammer, and its Speed, while decent, also leaves it outrun by a plethora of threats; foes such as Heatran, Kyurem-B, Mega Charizard Y, Tapu Lele, and Shaymin-S can all outrun and beat it down, preventing it from effectively doing much work against opposing teams. Grassy Surge can also prove to be a double-edged sword, as opponents also benefit from the healing Grassy Terrain provides and it weakens Tapu Bulu's own team's Earthquakes.

Tapu Koko

Typing: /

Abilities: Electric Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 115 Atk / 85 Def / 95 SpA / 75 SpD / 130 Spe

Sample Sets

/ Tapu Koko @ Life Orb / Electrium Z

Ability: Electric Surge

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Thunderbolt / Thunder

- Taunt / Volt Switch / Hidden Power Ice

- Dazzling Gleam

- Protect

Where's the potential?

As another of Alola's guardian deities, Tapu Koko both is powerful and brings fantastic tools to the Doubles OU tier. It rocks an extremely high Speed tier of base 130, which enables to outspeed almost everything in the tier except for Pheromosa, Deoxys-A, and Scarf users, as well as Speed ty with Mega Gengar. Similar to the other deities, Tapu Koko has an auto-Terrain abilitiy in Electric Surge, which for five turns sets Electric Terrain to boost Electric-type moves of grounded Pokémon by x1.5 as well as make them immune to sleep. The boost to Electric-type moves powers up Tapu Koko's own Thunderbolts, which enables it to dish out solid, consistent damage and hit harder than a non-Electric Terrain-boosted Thundurus would. Amoonguss, a well-known threat in past generations of Doubles OU, is now having some trouble being as effective as it once was because of Electric Terrain's ability to negate sleep for grounded Pokémon, though it will not stop floating pokemon like Landorus-T, which Amoonguss commonly checks, from being put to sleep. Dazzling Gleam is its go-to Fairy STAB attack, which is also a spread move for it chip at or pick off weakened foes. Taunt is a solid option on a fast Pokémon like Tapu Koko to prevent opposing Trick Room, Follow Me, and Tailwind. Volt Switch is a cool option because of its ability to quickly chunk a Pokémon with a boosted Electric attack and pivot into a back Pokémon, which also can be used to preserve one's Terrain setter if one expects the opponent to send in theirs to get control in the Terrain war. If a team is struggling to deal with Mega Salamence or Landorus-T, Tapu Koko can opt to run Hidden Power Ice to OHKO the latter from full while having a chance to OHKO the former. Thunder on Tapu Koko is generally only something that would be run on rain teams, as they can utilize it with perfect accuracy. Tapu Koko's main purpose on a team is to function as an extremely fast hard hitter that offers a guard against sleep status as well as checking threats like Mega Charizard Y, Celesteela, Dragons, and Waters. Tapu Koko's stats defensively may look pitiful, but they are in fact similar to Thundurus's, which has often pulled off a bulky set rather effectively in past generations. Unlike prior Electric-types in the tier, such as Rotom-W, Zapdos, and Thundurus it lacks the immunity to Ground moves, but it would not be too shocking for people to attempt a bulky build of Tapu Koko in the future.

What may hold it back?

Tapu Koko primarily runs a special attacking set because Doubles generally favors special attackers, especially with lots of Intimidate flying around, but unfortunately this means Tapu Koko is relying on a subpar base stat of 95 for its primary damage output. Because of this, it is very much reliant on Electric Terrain being up for consistent damage output, so Terrains switching in the midst of the battle as other Tapus enter the field is a major issue for it. This is also problematic because while Electric attacks do still hit extremely hard while Electric Terrain is up, its Fairy STAB Dazzling Gleam hits for extremely low damage and is unable to pick up KOs on most Dragons aside from Hydreigon and Guzzlord. Tapu Koko simply does a poor job at checking Dragon-types, which has been a very traditional role of past metagame Fairy threats such as Mega Diancie, Mega Gardevoir, Azumarill, and Sylveon. Traditionally, past Electric-types in the Doubles OU Tier like Zapdos, Thundurus, and Rotom-W are run much more defensively, but most Tapu Koko currently are being run offensively, which unfortunately means it is very frail and is even put into range of non-STAB Earth Powers from threats like Heatran and Kyurem-B after a couple rounds of Life Orb recoil.

Tapu Lele

Typing: /

Abilities: Psychic Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 85 Atk / 75 Def / 135 SpA / 115 SpD / 95 Spe

Sample Sets

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb

Ability: Psychic Surge

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Psychic

- Moonblast

- Taunt

- Protect

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Psychic Surge

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Psychic

- Moonblast

- Focus Blast

- Dazzling Gleam / Nature's Madness / Shadow Ball / Thunderbolt

Where's the potential?

With its high potential offensively, Tapu Lele stands as possibly one of the top stars of the SM DOU metagame. Tapu Lele has the ability to dish out major damage against majority of the metagame with its massive base 130 Special Attack and Psychic Surge, its ability that automatically sets Psychic Terrain, rendering grounded Pokémon safe from priority moves and, more importantly, boosting the power of Psychic-type attacks. With what is essentially an automatic Choice Specs boost for its Psychic STAB every time it comes onto the field, Tapu Lele is capable of ravaging teams with its impeccable neutral coverage, since the combination of Psychic and Fairy is only really taken well by Steel-types such as Aegislash and Celesteela. Tapu Lele can either play as a Life Orb attacker or run a Choice Scarf set, with the former taking full advantage of its damage potential and the latter utilizing it as a fast, powerful speed safety net. Taunt on its arsenal also proves quite useful, as it can shut down any kind of setup from threats that it can't immediately destroy; in particular, it functions as a neat anti-Trick Room lead, as Taunt stops it from getting up while Psychic Terrain blocks Fake Out. On that note, Psychic Terrain's other effect, blocking priority attacks, can prove helpful to shield its frailer or weakened teammates.

What may hold it back?

While Tapu Lele is superb on the offensive end, its STAB coverage does leave it walled by Steel-types, making them a good answer to it. While they will still take a slightly noticeable dent from Tapu Lele's Psychic STAB attacks, Steel-types can generally take a hit and KO back with their super effective STAB attacks, taking advantage of Tapu Lele's Fairy typing. Alolan Muk, a Pokémon that can hit Tapu Lele super effectively while also capable of taking most of its blows, also stands as an effective answer to it, with its usage being the result of a metagame trend as a testament to Tapu Lele's dominance. Though it does have a fairly good Speed tier, base 95 also still leaves it outrun by the likes of Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Charizard, Mega Gengar, and Mega Salamence, these threats doing their part to keep the threat at bay. Tapu Lele's Psychic Surge, a major boon, also provides it annoyance, as it prevents its own team from effectively using priority moves, making dealing with faster foes slightly harder.

Alolan Muk

Typing: /

Abilities: Poison Touch / Gluttony / Power of Alchemy

Stats: 105 HP / 105 Atk / 75 Def / 65 SpA / 100 SpD / 50 Spe

Sample Sets

Alolan Muk @ Assault Vest

Ability: Power of Alchemy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Gunk Shot

- Knock Off

- Poison Jab

- Fire Blast / Shadow Sneak

Alolan Muk @ Figy Berry

Ability: Gluttony

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Gunk Shot

- Knock Off

- Shadow Sneak

- Protect

Where's the potential?

With its high special bulk and Dark / Poison typing, Alolan Muk stands out as a serviceable bulky attacker. Possessing 105 / 100 special bulk, Alolan Muk can handily match up against even the strongest special attackers in the DOU metagame, and its Poison STAB allows it to work well as an answer to Alolan guardian deities; in particular, its ability to function as a stellar check to the dominant Tapu Lele plays a sizable part in its viability, as it can reliably take a Moonblast and is immune to its Psychic-type blows. Even with just base 105 Attack, Alolan Muk is still a respectable threat, as it boasts Gunk Shot for a strong yet inaccurate attack and Knock Off for general utility in disarming foes. Alolan Muk can run two sets, one sporting Assault Vest with Power of Alchemy and the other holding a Figy Berry with Gluttony. The former is much more specialized at taking special blows in general and utilizes the unique Power of Alchemy ability, letting it take advantage of its teammates' abilities and possibly enabling some distinct, noteworthy situations such as re-activating an Intimidate and taking advantage of a partner's Levitate; on the other hand, the latter is capable of taking more general hits, as it takes advantage of Gluttony allowing it to take advantage of Figy Berry earlier than usual, which itself has recently been buffed to heal half of the user's max HP. All in all, Alolan Muk stands in prominence thanks to the combination of Gen VII's addition of Dark-typing and Knock Off to its arsenal, physical offense generally being weaker with Mega Kangaskhan nerfed and Mega Diancie gone among other things, and the introduction of Tapus, a set of threats Alolan Muk matches up well against.

What may hold it back?

Alolan Muk's Speed is one of its biggest weaknesses, as it leaves it vulnerable to getting hit for strong damage by a majority of the metagame. Its offensive potential isn't the best either, as it only has base 105 Attack and relies on the inaccurate Gunk Shot to deal notable damage, making it somewhat of a non-threat on the field; in particular, it finds itself taken advantage of by threats that can shrug off its blows such as Landorus-T, Celesteela, and Mega Salamence. Its only passable physical bulk also leaves it prone to getting quickly dispatched by strong physical attackers such as Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence. Also, for something used for its defensive merits, Alolan Muk has few resistances, forcing it to rely more on its bulk more than it would like to.

Celesteela

Typing: /

Ability: Beast Boost

Stats: 97 HP / 101 Atk / 103 Def / 107 SpA / 101 SpD / 61 Spe

Sample Sets

Celesteela @ Leftovers

Ability: Beast Boost

Level: 50

EVs: 244 HP / 68 Atk / 92 Def / 92 SpD / 12 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Leech Seed

- Substitute / Flamethrower / Wide Guard

- Heavy Slam

- Protect / Wide Guard

Where's the potential?

Celesteela is easily one of the top 3 Pokémon in VGC 2017, having excellent stats across the board, solid typing, and access to an almost universally 120-BP Heavy Slam. Leech Seed and Substitute let it stall out virtually any slower Pokémon bar Marowak, Flamethrower is an excellent coverage move both for the mirror and for Kartana, and Wide Guard offers a lot of team support options. Its set is just customizable enough to avoid being a completely linear Pokémon, and the lack of Rotom formes in this generation greatly benefits it, as the Electric-types it would normally be weak to are a bit less prevalent.

What may hold it back?

As mentioned above, Celesteela is just barely skating by in terms of its movepool. This isn't necessarily terrible, as its moves are excellent as is, but it will likely become easier to counter as the meta progresses and will have less surprise options to fall back on and adapt with. Its middling Speed is likely Celesteela's largest drawback, as it won't be outspeeding much outside of Trick Room and it's a bit too fast inside of Trick Room with all the extremely slow Pokémon introduced this generation.

Tapu Koko

Typing: /

Abilities: Electric Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 115 Atk / 85 Def / 95 SpA / 75 SpD / 130 Spe

Sample Sets

/ Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash / Electrium Z

Ability: Electric Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid / Hasty / Jolly / Naive Nature

- Thunderbolt / Wild Charge

- Discharge / Hidden Power Ice

- Dazzling Gleam

- Protect / Taunt / Sky Drop

Where's the potential?

Tapu Koko was a huge source of initial concern among the VGC community before its stats and movepool were released. Electric / Fairy is an incredible offensive typing, and even though it didn't receive the proper moves or stats to be truly broken, Tapu Koko still plays an important role on many VGC 17 teams. It is one of the fastest Pokémon in the format, outrun by only the rogue Pheromosa, and still hits nearly every Pokémon in the format with its STAB moves. Tapu Koko also has an interesting support movepool to complement its Speed, with access to Sky Drop, Taunt, Reflect, Light Screen, and Nature's Madness.

What may hold it back?

One of Tapu Koko's biggest strengths can also be considered a weakness in its Speed, since if it leads against another Tapu, the other will likely get their Terrain up unless they're holding a Choice Scarf. Alolan Marowak is a one-mon stop to just about anything Tapu Koko can do, being immune to Electric attacks with Lightning Rod and resisting Fairy. Additionally, its movepool doesn't play kindly with its stats, as it doesn't learn Play Rough and has a hard time finding worthwhile physical moves to complement its base 115 Attack.

Tapu Lele

Typing: /

Abilities: Psychic Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 85 Atk / 75 Def / 135 SpA / 115 SpD / 95 Spe

Sample Sets

/ / / Tapu Lele @ Life Orb / Choice Scarf / Sitrus Berry / Psychium Z

Ability: Psychic Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 60 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe

Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Psychic

- Moonblast

- Protect

- Dazzling Gleam / Thunderbolt / Calm Mind / Shadow Ball

Where's the potential?

Tapu Lele is possibly the best Tapu introduced in Generation 7, having two very strong attacking types and a sky-high Special Attack stat bolstered further by Psychic Surge. The extreme amount of versatility in its movepool makes it especially dangerous in best-of-one play. Shattered Psyche gives it a nuke that blows away anything that doesn't resist it, while Choice Scarf lets it outrun threats like Garchomp, +1 Gyarados, and Tapu Koko.

What may hold it back?

Tapu Lele's biggest problems are easily Celesteela and Trick Room. Celesteela walls both of Lele's STAB moves and OHKOes back with a Heavy Slam. Trick Room on the other hand allows slower Pokémon to take advantage of Tapu Lele's base 95 speed and KO it with moves like Shadow Bone from Marowak, Heavy Slam from Mudsdale, or two Eruptions from Torkoal if it is Instructed by Oranguru.

Alolan Marowak

Typing: /

Ability: ‎Cursed Body / Lightning Rod / Rock Head

Stats: 60 HP / 80 Atk / 110 Def / 50 SpA / 80 SpD / 45 Spe

Sample Sets

Alolan Marowak @ Thick Club

Ability: Lightning Rod

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Flare Blitz

- Bonemerang / Substitute

- Shadow Bone

- Protect

Where's the potential?

Alolan Marowak is a common sight in early VGC 17, given its amazing Attack stat due to Thick Club, its excellent typing and ability, and the fact that it doesn't cause any trouble with Item Clause. Fire / Ghost is excellent unresisted coverage and hits a vast majority of the format for a lot of neutral damage. It is one of the few Pokémon in the format able to drop Celesteela in one hit, as well as OHKOing Tapu Lele and other Marowak.

What may hold it back?

Alolan Marowak's Speed and lackluster Special Defense are the primary factors holding it back. Its Speed is excellent for Trick Room, but the general Trick Room archetype hasn't really fully stabilized yet. Some run a faster Marowak outside of Trick Room, which is functional, but as the meta progresses more Pokémon will emerge as popular that are able to deal with these faster variants. It takes a lot of damage from special hits as well, needing an alternate Terrain to be up to reliably take hits from Tapu Lele.

Celesteela

Typing: /

Ability: Beast Boost

Stats: 97 HP / 101 Atk / 103 Def / 107 SpA / 101 SpD / 61 Spe

Sample Sets

Celesteela @ Leftovers

Ability: Beast Boost

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

Impish / Relaxed Nature

- Leech Seed

- Substitute / Protect

- Heavy Slam

- Earthquake / Flamethrower / Protect

/ Celesteela @ Sitrus Berry / Life Orb

Ability: Beast Boost

Level: 50

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 156 Spe

Lonely Nature

- Autotomize

- Heavy Slam

- Earthquake / Acrobatics

- Flamethrower / Acrobatics

Where's the potential?

Celesteela has burst onto the Battle Spot Singles scene mainly as a legendary replacement for Ferrothorn but also as an overall super customizable threat. If you can imagine Ferrothorn with Skarmory's typing and better stats, then you've got a pretty rudimentary idea of Celesteela. This thing is able to Sub freely on a huge majority of the metagame and start using Leech Seed to stall things to death. The SubSeed set is also really flexible; it can be physically defensive, specially defensive, or even fast! It does suffer from some pretty serious four-moveslot syndrome, though, as it's pretty tricky to round out a set with the coverage you want. Earthquake is crucial for the Magnet Pull Magnezone that are really popular in response to Celesteela's usage, while Flamethrower roasts the Scizor that will try to Swords Dance; this is, however, where the Autotomize set comes in! With its great bulk, Celesteela is able to survive a hit and boost in front of a lot of Pokémon, where it then goes on a rampage by squashing everything with its Heavy Slam. Yes, Autotomize halves its weight, which reduces Heavy Slam's power, but Celesteela, being the heaviest Pokémon of all time, still hits almost everything for max Base Power. Itemless Acrobatics is also a viable option, although it means sacrificing valuable coverage.

What may hold it back?

Being a Steel-type, Celesteela enters a Battle Spot Singles metagame that is already well prepared to take it on due to Aegislash's strong presence. Celesteela gets shut down by Pokémon such as Mandibuzz, Arcanine, Gyarados, Tapu Koko, and Magnezone, and its passive nature allows setup sweepers such as Mega Scizor, Mega Metagross, and Porygon-Z to come in and boost for free. The aforementioned 4MSS is also pretty annoying, as whichever move you leave out results in Celesteela being hard countered by something dangerous. Celesteela forms a great core with Alolan Marowak and has been quite popular so far, but the predictability of the core makes playing around it quite easy, and Alolan Marowak doesn't help against Mandibuzz, Mega Scizor, or Gyarados.

Tapu Koko

Typing: /

Abilities: Electric Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 115 Atk / 85 Def / 95 SpA / 75 SpD / 130 Spe

Sample Sets

/ / Tapu Koko @ Life Orb / Focus Sash / Electrium Z

Ability: Electric Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid / Naive Nature

- Thunderbolt

- Dazzling Gleam

- Volt Switch / U-turn

- Grass Knot / Hidden Power Ground / Brave Bird

/ / Tapu Koko @ Life Orb / Focus Sash / Electric Seed

Ability: Electric Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Calm Mind

- Thunderbolt

- Dazzling Gleam

- Hidden Power Ground / Grass Knot / Roost

Tapu Koko @ Light Clay

Ability: Electric Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

-Thunderbolt / Volt Switch

-Light Screen

-Reflect

-U-turn / Nature's Madness / Dazzling Gleam

Where's the potential?

Don't let Tapu Koko's mediocre Special Attack stat fool you: with Electric Terrain boosting up its STAB as well as an incredible Speed stat, Tapu Koko is looking to be one of the biggest new offensive threats in Battle Spot Singles! Despite the Special Attack stat, Electric Terrain actually lets Tapu Koko hit almost as hard as Xurkitree, making it a great revenge killer of important threats such as Celesteela and unboosted Mega Gyarados. The most surprising part about Tapu Koko, however, is that it's actually rather versatile. Many run all-out attacking sets with Volt Switch or U-turn to weaken threats for other sweepers, or some may go mixed with Brave Bird to deal massive damage to Alolan Marowak. Tapu Koko is also a fairly good offensive user of Calm Mind, having access to Roost for more bulky sets that use Electric Seed (an consumable item that boosts Tapu Koko's Defense by one stage under Electric Terrain). Finally, Tapu Koko is a shockingly competent user of dual screens thanks to its speed and scouting moves.

What may hold it back?

Tapu Koko is very frail, being 2HKOed by almost anything in Battle Spot Singles at minimum. Even threats that aren't always be offensive in nature such as Celesteela and Porygon2 easily 2HKO Tapu Koko switch-ins, limiting its opportunities to come in. Without Electric Terrain, Tapu Koko also isn't too powerful, needing a Life Orb and a boost to KO Garchomp for example. Most teams will have designated Tapu Koko switch-ins as well, such as Alolan Marowak and Mudsdale, which can make Tapu Koko more of a liability than expected. Threats such as Magnezone, Xurkitree, and Porygon-Z also love taking advantage of Electric Terrain to their own ends, so it can backfire on you!

Tapu Lele

Typing: /

Abilities: Psychic Surge / Telepathy

Stats: 70 HP / 85 Atk / 75 Def / 135 SpA / 115 SpD / 95 Spe

Sample Sets

/ Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf / Choice Specs

Ability: Psychic Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Psychic / Psyshock

- Moonblast

- Shadow Ball

- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire / Focus Blast

Where's the potential?

Tapu Lele is a really interesting Pokémon in Battle Spot Singles due to its unique typing and, most of all, its signature ability. Psychic Surge automatically creates Psychic Terrain on the battle field, which boosts Tapu Lele's Psychic type moves and stops moves with increased priority from working. This allows Tapu Lele to act as one of the best revenge killers available, as it can nuke most anything with a Psychic-type move and also doesn't have to worry about a boosted Shadow Sneak from Aegislash or Mimikyu or a Bullet Punch from Mega Scizor or Mega Metagross. Psychic Terrain also supports its teammates really well; Mega Gengar doesn't need to fear a Shadow Sneak picking it off, nor does Mega Kangaskhan have to worry about a Mach Punch. It also eliminates Sucker Punch mind games and neuters Prankster users! Tapu Lele also has a good special movepool that provides coverage against many common Pokémon. Shadow Ball is for picking off weakened Aegislash, Mega Metagross, and opposing Tapu Lele, Thunderbolt hits Celesteela and Gyarados, Hidden Power Fire destroys any Scizor in your way, and Focus Blast hits the Steel-types that resist its STAB moves such as Magnezone.

What may hold it back?

Tapu Lele may be able to revenge kill a lot of the Steel-type Pokémon in Battle Spot Singles; however, if they're healthy, they instead provide incredibly solid checks to it due to Tapu Lele's secondary Fairy typing. Tapu Lele is also very reliant on Choice items, as Scarf and Specs are currently its best sets, so taking advantage of that by locking it into an unfavorable move and playing around that accordingly puts Tapu Lele into a tough spot. Having Tapu Lele on your team also means you have to be wary about using your own priority moves and perhaps not even include any on your team! This means that fast, frail Pokémon on your opponent's team such as Pheromosa, Mega Alakazam, Weavile, and Minior don't have to worry so much about getting bopped by a priority move.

Mimikyu

Typing: /

Ability: Disguise

Stats: 55 HP / 90 Atk / 80 Def / 50 SpA / 105 SpD / 96 Spe

Sample Sets

/ Mimikyu @ Life Orb / Ghostium Z

Ability: Disguise

Level: 50

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly / Adamant Nature

- Swords Dance

- Play Rough

- Shadow Sneak

- Shadow Claw / Destiny Bond / Will-O-Wisp

Where's the potential?

Mimikyu may seem like a rather average Pokémon, but Disguise makes all the difference. Disguise gives Mimikyu one chance to avoid direct damage, making it an excellent revenge killer in Battle Spot Singles. To make the deal even sweeter, Mimikyu gets Swords Dance to make it into a very threatening sweeper that almost always sets up! Life Orb is perfect for Mimikyu to accentuate its sweeping and revenge killing prowess. However, don't underestimate Ghostium Z, which lets Mimikyu deal massive damage to Celesteela after a boost. Ghost / Fairy is also a potent offensive typing, letting it hit most Pokémon for neutral damage, while also giving it good immunities to Fighting, Normal, and Dragon to take advantage of. Finally, while Mimikyu focuses on offenses so far, note that it does get Destiny Bond, allowing it to screw up potential checks such as Celesteela. Mimikyu can even use Will-O-Wisp to cripple physical attackers at unexpected times!

What may hold it back?

To make things clear, the reason why Mimikyu is currently looking to be a prominent threat in Battle Spot Singles is solely because of Disguise. Mimikyu has fairly average stats otherwise and a low Attack stat for a sweeper. This means that once Disguise is broken, Mimikyu becomes much less threatening. Mimikyu also has big problems with physically defensive Celesteela, which it can't break without a boosted Never-Ending Nightmare and some previous damage. While Tapu Lele itself has problems with Mimikyu, if Psychic Terrain is up, Mimikyu won't be able to revenge kill threats such as weakened Mega Gengar without using up its Disguise.

Pheromosa

Typing: /

Ability: Beast Boost

Stats: 71 HP / 137 Atk / 37 Def / 137 SpA / 37 SpD / 151 Spe

Sample Sets

Pheromosa @ Life Orb

Ability: Beast Boost

Level: 50

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Naive / Naughty Nature

- High Jump Kick

- U-turn

- Ice Beam

- Poison Jab

Pheromosa @ Focus Sash

Ability: Beast Boost

Level: 50

EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Rash / Naive Nature

- Bug Buzz

- Hidden Power Ground

- Ice Beam

- High Jump Kick / Focus Blast

Where's the potential?

Pheromosa is the definition of a glass cannon. It's one of the most powerful attackers we've seen in a while, sporting a very impressive base 137 on both offenses and an incredible base 151 Speed! To complement its offensive nature it has a great STAB type in Fighting, with a very powerful option in High Jump Kick. Bug has never been known as an impressive typing, but it compliments Fighting rather nicely by giving Pheromosa STAB to hit Psychic-types super effectively, as well as access to U-turn to keep you ahead in the game. And if its STABs weren't enough to convince you of its power, it also has coverage moves to get around some common Pokémon that resist them. Ice Beam is able to decimate Mega Salamence, and Poison Jab can grab OHKOs or 2HKOs on many of the newly introduced Fairy-types. It can also run more specially oriented sets with Focus Sash to surprise common checks, such as Mega Gengar and Alolan Marowak, with a 2HKO from Hidden Power Ground. However, keep in mind its most prominent counter, Aegislash, still does a well enough job against this set. The set also offers a strong Bug-type STAB that doesn't force you to switch out, which can lead to some late-game sweeps thanks to Pheromosa's ability, Beast Boost. Beast Boost is a very interesting and flexible ability; with a Naughty or Rash nature you increase Pheromosa's potential to sweep with each kill, while with a Naive nature you can make it harder for Scarfers to revenge kill it. Pheromosa's ability to outspeed almost any non-Choice Scarf Pokémon with very powerful attacks and keep momentum for you with U-turn makes it a very nice option for offensive teams.

What may hold it back?

Pheromosa's low defenses make it vulnerable to being OHKOed by even neutral attacks. Because of this, it is very weak to priority moves, and you often have to play under the assumption Pheromosa needs to be able to KO what's in front of it or U-turn out otherwise. This makes it almost necessary to only use Pheromosa in the late-game as a cleaner or in the early-game as a scout with U-turn. Now those aren't exactly bad roles to have, but it does limit Pheromosa's flexibility quite a bit and means you only have switch potential with 2/3 of your team at best. While Pheromosa's coverage is impressive, it still is walled by a few popular Pokémon in the current metagame, the best of which is without a doubt Aegislash. Similar Pokémon include Alolan Marowak and Buzzwole; these Pokémon can switch into Pheromosa with no fear and when seen at Team Preview are often enough to consider benching Pheromosa.

Cutiefly

Typing: /

Abilities: Honey Gather / Shield Dust / Sweet Veil

Stats: 40 HP / 45 Atk / 40 Def / 55 SpA / 40 SpD / 84 Spe

Overview

Due to its middling base stats and average abilities, at first glance Cutiefly seems rather subpar. However, this assumption could not be more wrong. Cutiefly not only has unique access to both Baton Pass and Quiver Dance but also has wide support options and coverage. Cutiefly is also blessed with high Speed and a unique typing to work with. With these tools, Cutiefly will indubitably become a top-tier threat.

Sample Sets

Cutiefly @ Berry Juice

Ability: Shield Dust

Level: 5

EVs: 240 SpA / 244 Spe

Modest Nature

IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD

- Quiver Dance

- Moonblast

- Hidden Power Ground / Psychic

- Baton Pass

While base 55 Special Attack is not particularly high, at +1 Cutiefly can still do decent damage. This set centers around Cutiefly taking advantage of Quiver Dance boosts for itself and passing only when forced to. Fairy and Ground together have unresisted coverage in LC, with Ground hitting all the types that resist Fairy. However, 60 BP is rather weak, so Psychic is also usable for hitting Poison-types such as Skrelp, Mareanie, and Foongus. Ultimately, the choice comes down to what Cutiefly's team deals with better. For example, if Cutiefly has Gothita as a partner, then Hidden Power Ground can be safely used.

Mudbray

Typing:

Abilities: Own Tempo / Stamina / Inner Focus

Stats: 70 HP / 100 Atk / 70 Def / 45 SpA / 55 SpD / 45 Spe

Overview

Mudbray has been seen as one of the best new additions to Little Cup since it was first revealed. The mud pony draws attention with its rather good bulk plus its incredibly high Attack coupled with its good offensive typing. Its signature ability Stamina is also eye catching, with each hit boosting Mudbray's already great Defense. Yet Mudbray's shallow but adequate movepool does leave much to be desired. Mudbray overwhelmingly seems like a threat that will be very hard to take down in LC.

Sample Sets

Mudbray @ Eviolite

Ability: Stamina

Level: 5

EVs: 36 HP / 196 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Earthquake

- Rock Slide / Rock Tomb

- Close Combat

- Heavy Slam

This is essentially the extent of Mudbray's offensive movepool. Earthquake is a strong, reliable STAB attack, and it makes Mudbray already irksome to handle. Rock Slide provides Mudbray with some rather decent though weak coverage and will 2HKO all Earthquake-immune Pokémon besides Bronzor. Rock Slide gains some potential OHKOs after Stealth Rock, but Rock Tomb is helpful for allowing Mudbray to outspeed opposing Pokémon while having very similar damage output. Close Combat destroys Ferroseed, while Heavy Slam is mostly a filler option that does passable damage to Spritzee, Snubbull, Cottonee, and other Fairies.

Mareanie

Typing: /

Abilities: Merciless / Limber / Regenerator

Stats: 50 HP / 53 Atk / 62 Def / 43 SpA / 52 SpD / 45 Spe

Overview

Being a Poison / Water type, Mareanie is forced to contend with Skrelp and Tentacool as a viable Pokémon on a Little Cup team. That said, Mareanie has a lot to differentiate itself from the other two. Although its offenses leave much to be desired, its defensive capabilities are substantial. Poison / Water has always been a strong defensive typing, resisting powerful types such as Fire, Fighting, and Water, but now Mareanie has access to reliable recovery in the form of Recover, something the other two cannot boast. Furthermore, as if that wasn't enough, Mareanie can also run Regenerator, making it even harder to take down and a wonderful pivot. Despite being weak to strong offensive types such as Ground and Psychic and a middling Speed stat, Mareanie will carve out a nice niche within the metagame using these attributes.

Sample Sets

Mareanie @ Eviolite

Ability: Regenerator

Level: 5

EVs: 116 HP / 180 Def / 12 SpA / 180 SpD

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Haze

- Scald

- Sludge Wave

- Recover / Toxic Spikes

This set aims to capitalize on Mareanie's solid typing and bulk to provide teams with a strong check to numerous threats as well as a pivot. Regenerator, especially when coupled with Recover, makes for an abundance of healing opportunities, ones that will allow Mareanie to be useful throughout a match. Scald and Sludge Wave provide two consistent STAB attacks, with the former being able to spread burns fairly decently. Although a physical attacking set with Liquidation and Poison Jab can theoretically be used, the damage difference is negligible and passing up on burning things is often too much to give up. Haze is used to make Mareanie a reliable answer to boosting sweepers such as Cutiefly and Scraggy as well. The last slot is used to either help keep Mareanie healthier and able to stay on the field longer via Recover or set Toxic Spikes in order the support the team through residual damage.

Pikipek

Typing: /

Abilities: Keen Eye / Skill Link / Pick Up

Stats: 35 HP / 75 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 65 Spe

Overview

With decent Speed and Attack, a rather good ability in Skill Link, and the movepool to support it, Pikipek grabs attention as a new offensive Flying-type within the LC metagame. Having access to Bullet Seed, Fury Attack, Brave Bird, Flame Charge, Swords Dance, U-turn, and Brick Break, Pikipek is nearly impossible to wall and has enough options to be a decent wallbreaker or a late-game cleaner. However, Pikipek runs the risk of fainting fairly easily due to its abysmal defenses and weakness to Stealth Rock, perhaps limiting it to being either a Choice Scarf attacker or a Life Orb Wallbreaker. Doduo does give Pikipek a run for its money, with Sun and Moon having also graced the faster, more powerful bird with Jump Kick and Swords Dance, but the new regional bird should have enough going for it to make a name for itself.

Sample Sets

Pikipek @ Life Orb

Ability: Skill Link

Level: 5

EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spe

Jolly Nature

IVs: 29 HP

- Fury Attack

- Brave Bird

- Bullet Seed

- Flame Charge

This set is meant to take advantage of the offensive attributes Pikipek possesses in the best way possible. Pikipek has access to Skill Link as well as STAB Fury Attack, Bullet Seed, and a strong Brave Bird, making busting through defensive threats very manageable. The problem lies with Pikipek's rather mediocre Speed, sitting at 17, which is where Flame Charge comes in. Not only does Flame Charge gives Pikipek an option to hit Steels super effectively, albeit not very strongly, but it also comes with the nifty ability to boost Pikipek's speed by 1, effectively allowing it to outspeed all unboosted LC pokemon. IVs are also dropped to 29 in order to drop Pikipek's HP to 19, an important stat in LC when running Life Orb due to the fact that now Life Orb only deals 1 damage to recoil (Pikipek is not making very good use of the lost HP point anyway because its defenses are weak anyway).

Salandit

Typing: /

Abilities: Corrosion / Oblivious

Stats: 48 HP / 44 Atk / 40 Def / 71 SpA / 40 SpD / 77 Spe

Overview

When looking at Salandit, the first thing to notice is that unique Poison / Fire typing. With Fire being a commonly offensively oriented typing and Poison traditionally being used for more defensive purposes, the combination makes for an interesting pair. Couple the typing with access to 18 Speed and Nasty Plot, and you have what seems to look like a definitive LC threat on your hands. While Salandit possesses a large amount of wallbreaking prowess, weaknesses to common attack types such as Water, Psychic, and most notably Ground, as well as low defenses, can leave it vulnerable to revenge killing.This is exacerbated by the fact that it is weak to the two best trappers in LC, Diglett and Gothita. Salandit might not be sweeping entire teams and be more of a one-trick pony, but it does look to be a new powerful addition to the LC metagame.

Sample Sets

/ Salandit @ Eviolite / Life Orb

Ability: Corrosion

Level: 5

EVs: 36 Def / 192 SpA / 40 SpD / 220 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD

- Nasty Plot

- Fire Blast

- Sludge Wave

- Hidden Power Ground

This set utilizes Salandit's valuable 18 speed and access to Nasty Plot in order to punch holes in opponents teams. While Salandit has several notable weaknesses and paltry bulk, if it can find a chance to set up a Nasty Plot against something such as Ferroseed or Spritzee, it can be a major nuisance for slower, more defensive teams. Fire Blast and Sludge Wave provide strong STAB options with solid coverage between them, with Hidden Power Ground providing the best third attacking option, enabling Salandit to hit grounded Rocks as well as Mareanie and Skrelp super effectively.