In-battle formes
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| HP: | 73 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 67 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 75 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 81 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 100 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 109 |
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Evolutions
- Vulpix-Alola
- Ninetales-Alola
Formes
- Base
- Alola
Overview
As the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, Alolan Ninetales carves itself a niche in OU as the only viable user of the former. Between its good Speed stat and its access to both Hypnosis and Encore, Alolan Ninetales is able to set up Aurora Veil against a large portion of the tier without fearing setup sweepers taking advantage of it as it does so, and it forces out a number of Pokemon in the important base 90 to 108 Speed bracket such as Landorus-T, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Keldeo. Furthermore, its access to Freeze-Dry allows it to shut down large portions of rain teams when combined with Snow Warning, and Alolan Ninetales's good Special Defense stat allows it to take a decently strong neutral special hit in order to set up Aurora Veil if it absolutely needs to. That said, it is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, which makes it very vulnerable to entry hazards, and while Fairy is nice for shutting down Pokemon like Garchomp and Latios locked into their respective Dragon-type STAB moves, its secondary Ice typing does very little in the way of providing defensive synergy with teammates while compounding its weakness to the omnipresent Steel type. Furthermore, Alolan Ninetales's decent Special Defense is contrasted by its abysmal physical bulk, which leaves it very vulnerable to physical attackers before setting up Aurora Veil, and its low Special Attack leaves it unable to pose as a threat to Mega Charizard Y that block its setup attempts by overwriting hail with Drought. It is also an easy target for Volcarona to set up on if something is already put to sleep by Hypnosis.
Aurora Veil
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Moves
Aurora Veil lets Alolan Ninetales support its teammates by temporarily halving the damage taken from the opposing team's attacks, which opens up more opportunities to dish out hits and set up. Freeze-Dry allows Alolan Ninetales to have an excellent matchup versus rain—a playstyle that commonly gives offensive teams a headache—by hitting Pelipper, Mega Swampert, and Kingdra 4x super effectively, and it also means Gyarados can't use Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder. Hypnosis shuts down Pokemon that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales like Volcarona and Mega Tyranitar while also creating free turns for teammates. Hail is used to help improve the matchup versus Mega Charizard Y that attempt to block Aurora Veil with Drought by undoing the weather change to sun on the turn it switches in, as well as Tyranitar. Encore is an option that shuts down slower, non-Speed-boosting setup sweepers without requiring the preservation of Sleep Clause while pressuring defensive Pokemon like Toxapex more consistently than Hypnosis.
Set Details
Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is important to best take advantage of Alolan Ninetales's good Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil with as much consistency as possible and outpacing the base 95 to 108 Speed bracket; its HP is also maximized to allow it to set up Aurora Veil as much as possible throughout the match. Snow Warning allows Alolan Ninetales to set up hail on the turn that it is sent out, which is necessary to ensure maximum consistency when setting up Aurora Veil. Light Clay maximizes the duration of said move, which is important to maximize the amount of utility that Alolan Ninetales brings to the table.
Usage Tips
Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into attacks directly if possible and instead aim to bring it in on a slow Volt Switch or U-turn, after a teammate is KOed, or on a well-predicted double switch; similarly, aim to bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out to ensure that Aurora Veil can be set up safely. If you see Volcarona or Mega Charizard X on the opposing team, don't put a different foe to sleep in order to prevent them using Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. If Ninetales carries Encore, use it against Pokemon that are slower than Ninetales after they set up, and don't be afraid to shut down certain defensive Pokemon like Toxapex and Ice Beam Mew if the situation requires you to do so. Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximize the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses, but don't be afraid to take one hit with Alolan Ninetales if it is necessary. If Alolan Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active, use the opportunity to set it up and let Alolan Ninetales faint to grab momentum late-game.
Team Options
Setup attackers like Magearna, Mega Tyranitar, Volcarona, Gyarados, Suicune, and Bisharp all massively appreciate Aurora Veil due to its ability to make setting up easier; Bisharp is also nice for discouraging attempts to clear Aurora Veil with Defog, whereas Volcarona takes advantage of Aurora Veil to circumvent Rock-type moves from Choice Scarf users, which are used to revenge kill it after a boost, such as Keldeo's Stone Edge. Breakers such as Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room when spamming their absurdly strong attacks, allowing them to deal significantly more damage to the opposing team. Bulky attackers such as Shift Gear Magearna are helpful for reducing the team's reliance on Aurora Veil while becoming extremely hard to break when the effect is on the field. Other strong set up Pokemon such as Waterium Z Tail Glow Manaphy and Landorus-T are effective because they are able to set up on a plethora of attacks as well as being much more difficult to revenge kill.
Other Options
Hidden Power Fire can be used to hit Steel-type such as Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn much harder. Hidden Power Ground can be used to 2HKO maximum HP Heatran after Stealth Rock as well as Assault Vest Magnezone after one layer of Spikes. Disable is an option to shut down certain attacks and is useful versus Choice item users by forcing them to either switch or use Struggle, but this leaves Alolan Ninetales vulnerable to setup sweepers. Toxic is an option to alleviate Alolan Ninetales's passiveness and is useful for wearing down bulky Pokemon for teammates, whereas Nasty Plot achieves the same goal by boosting Alolan Ninetales's Special Attack stat sharply, which is useful for reducing its reliance on teammates to break through the opposing team.
Checks and Counters
Mega Charizard Y: Mega Charizard Y blocks attempts to set up Aurora Veil by overwriting hail with Drought, takes very little damage from any of Alolan Ninetales's attacks barring the inaccurate Blizzard, which fails to 2HKO it, and returns the favor by dealing heavy damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates with a sun-boosted Fire Blast.
Steel-types: Mega Scizor takes very little damage from anything other than the rare Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi take very little damage from Freeze Dry and can hit it back with their respective Steel-type moves. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder.
Entry Hazards: Alolan Ninetales is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent Speed tier when pitted against teams that carry it.
Fire-types: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STAB moves, and they both threaten it heavily with STAB moves of their own. Volcarona is slower than Alolan Ninetales, takes very little from any of its attacks, and outpaces it after one boost, meaning that it is not threatened by Encore and concequently uses non-Hypnosis Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. Mega Charizard X is in the same boat, although it needs to be wary of a potential Blizzard.
Sand Stream Users: Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil, although Hippowdon needs to watch out for Freeze Dry.
