In-battle formes
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| HP: | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 74 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 74 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 126 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 116 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 60 |
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Overview
With a stellar Water / Fairy typing, a great Special Attack, and good Special Defense, Primarina proves itself to be a prevalent threat in the 1v1 metagame. Its typing is useful for both defensive and offensive purposes, as it enables it to take on many of the tier's most prevalent Water-, Fire-, and Dragon-type Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Mega Charizard X, and Kommo-o as well as Ground- and Rock-type Pokemon such as Donphan and Crustle. Very few type combinations resist both Fairy- and Water-type moves, allowing Primarina's high-Base Power STAB moves in Oceanic Operetta and Moonblast to hit most of the metagame neutrally. Primarina can forego Special Attack investment to invest in its Defense to survive powerful hits such as Tectonic Rage from Landorus-T, as it already has enough power with its STAB moves. Access to priority in Aqua Jet allows Primarina to beat Sturdy Pokemon and pick off weakened Pokemon. Access to Encore also allows it to beat passive Pokemon like Mega Slowbro. Although Primarina faces competition from Tapu Fini, it can offer more power and utility with Oceanic Operetta and Encore. However, Primarina is weak to common Grass-, Electric-, and Poison-types such as Mega Venusaur, Zeraora, and Naganadel. Also, Primarina has no way of boosting its power, so it can fall prey to bulky setup Pokemon like Meloetta and Magearna and powerful nukes such as Breakneck Blitz from Porygon-Z.
Bulky Z-Move
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Moves
Sparkling Aria becomes Oceanic Operetta with Primarium Z, which has an astounding 195 Base Power. Sparkling Aria also goes through Substitute, which is helpful against common Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Mega Blaziken. Waterium Z with Hydro Cannon can be used for the extra 5 Base Power over Oceanic Operetta as well as more immediate power to 2HKO opposing Pokemon more easily. However, it loses Sparkling Aria's ability to go through Substitute and requires a recharge turn afterwards. Moonblast is mostly used when the foe resists Water and is weak to Fairy, such as against Mega Gyarados and Haxorus. This is because a neutral Oceanic Operetta still does more damage than a super effective Moonblast. However, if Oceanic Operetta does not OHKO the foe, Moonblast is the preferred move of choice. Aqua Jet is a useful STAB priority move that can get boosted by Torrent to finish off Pokemon that manage to survive Primarina's primary STAB moves, such as Garchomp, Genesect, and Sturdy Pokemon. Aqua Jet can also be used to evade certain strategies, such as Mirror Coat from Avalugg. Encore is used to defeat certain setup or stall Pokemon, such as locking Mega Gyarados into Dragon Dance and Mega Slowbro into Calm Mind or Amnesia. Substitute is used to guarantee Torrent's boost against Pokemon that do not already put Primarina into Torrent range, such as Mega Metagross, Mega Mawile, and Zygarde. It can also be used to evade status from slower Pokemon such as Pyukumuku and Aron.
Set Details
240 HP EVs and maximum Defense investment are required in order to be able to survive powerful hits from physical attackers such as Tectonic Rage followed by Sucker Punch from Golem, Poison Jab from Choice Band Haxorus, and Fake Out followed by Giga Impact from Mega Lopunny. The 16 Special Defense EVs ensure that Download users like Genesect do not receive a Special Attack boost. Special Attack investment is not necessary, as Primarina already has decent Special Attack. Torrent is an amazing ability that boosts Primarina's Water-type moves to insane levels when at or below 1/3 max HP, which can be manipulated with Substitute. This boost is commonly triggered by Pokemon that fail to OHKO Primarina, such as Choice Specs Meloetta and Choice Specs Magearna. 0 Speed IVs with a negative Speed nature allow Primarina to not automatically lose to Aegislash by giving Primarina a chance to attack it in its vulnerable Blade forme. If running Substitute, it is better to run Bold over Relaxed with 31 Speed IVs to allow Primarina to set up Substitute before slower Pokemon like minimum Speed Aegislash, Mega Mawile, and Mega Aggron.
Usage Tips
For passive, slower Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro, attack as usual on Turn 1, and then after they use a setup move, use Encore to prevent them from switching moves. In this case, repeatedly use Encore on them on the appropriate turns to ensure that they cannot retaliate. For some Pokemon that do not put Primarina into Torrent range, it can be better to use Substitute rather than attack. For example, against bulky Mega Metagross, it is better to use Substitute first to trigger Torrent and then OHKO it with Torrent-boosted Oceanic Operetta. Against Pokemon that run Metal Burst, such as specially defensive Mega Mawile and Mega Aggron, it is wiser to use Moonblast first before firing off Oceanic Operetta so as not to get OHKOed.
Team Options
Grass-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Kartana and Fire-type Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X and Incineroar are good teammates for Primarina, as they cover each other's threats. Ferrothorn and Kartana can handle the Electric- and Water- Pokemon that trouble Primarina such as Zeraora and Tapu Fini, while Mega Charizard X and Incineroar defeat Grass- and Steel-types such as Mega Venusaur and Magearna, and Primarina takes care of Fire- and Dragon- types like Mega Charizard X and Haxorus. Physical attackers such as Zeraora and Mega Metagross help in breaking specially defensive Pokemon such as Meloetta and Chansey, while Primarina takes care of physically defensive Pokemon such as Sturdy users. Fighting-type Pokemon such as Sawk and Mega Blaziken are able to cover the Steel-types that bother Primarina such as Kartana and Magearna, while Primarina can take out Pokemon that threaten them like Donphan and Golem.
Other Options
Primarina can run a fairly viable Choice Specs set with wide coverage options in Hydro Cannon, Sparkling Aria, Moonblast, Hidden Power Fire, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Icy Wind, Ice Beam, and Energy Ball. This allows it to beat Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Mega Swampert but loses out on the utility that the bulky Primarium Z set brings with the option of switching moves, meaning that it will be unable to reliably check Sturdy Pokemon like Carracosta, Crustle, and Sawk. A Fairium Z set with Baby-Doll Eyes can ease the matchup versus some physical attackers or allow Primarina to use Twinkle Tackle. This can be helpful against Pokemon such as Gyarados, Zygarde, and physical Dragonite but leaves Primarina unable to blast through Pokemon such as Mega Mawile. A Quiet nature can be used over Relaxed if power is preferred over bulk to ensure OHKOs on Pokemon such as maximum HP Mega Mawile; however, this may leave Primarina vulnerable to some of the physical threats it used to check.
Checks and Counters
Attacker with Super Effective Moves: Pokemon who have an offensive type advantage over Primarina such as Kartana, Tapu Bulu, Electrium Z Zeraora, Magnezone, and Choice Specs Naganadel easily outspeed and OHKO Primarina before it can even land a hit.
Specially Defensive Pokemon: Pokemon like Tapu Fini, Tapu Lele, and Chansey have naturally high Special Defense, preventing Primarina from posing any threat.
Powerful Wallbreakers: Flyinium Z Dragonite, Choice Band Hoopa-U with Gunk Shot, Mega Heracross with Bullet Seed, and Choice Specs Porygon-Z are some of the Pokemon that can OHKO Primarina with their overwhelming offenses.
Defensive Typing Advantage: Mega Venusaur, Ferrothorn, and Volcanion can whittle Primarina down while taking little damage. However, Ferrothorn can be lured and taken out with a Choice Specs set with Hidden Power Fire.
Special Defense-boosting Pokemon: Pokemon that can boost their Special Defense such as Magearna, Necrozma, Deoxys-S, Mega Gardevoir, and Meloetta prevent Primarina from OHKOing them and are able to either stall Primarina's PP or take it out after boosting up. As these Pokemon are naturally faster than Primarina, they do not fear being locked into a move by Encore.
Credits
- Written by Chickenpie2
- Quality checked by charizard8888, Ginger Princess, and Freddy Kyogre
- Grammar checked by Lumari and Muse
