- Registeel is a Pokemon of great defensive utility given its incredible 80/150/150 bulk and Steel typing.
- Its bulk and typing allows it to take many hits from threats such as Diancie-Mega, Rayquaza-Mega, and many other threats.
- It can run a number of useful abilities such as Magic Bounce, Prankster or Regenerator that will make it difficult to the opponent to determine which set Registeel is running on team preview.
- Additionally, its slow speed let Registeel use a very slow U-turn, that safely brings on the field a teammate after the opponent has already acted.
- Unfortunately, Steel is a common defensive typing and many Pokemon, such as Diancie-Mega or Mewtwo-Mega-Y, carry coverage that heavily damages Registeel, such as V-Create, Earth Power or Blue Flare.
- Its passiveness is also a disappointing reality, as it is usually incapable of pressuring or KOing the Pokemons it is supposed to wall or check.
- All in all, Registeel is one of the best walls in the meta and thus a great glue for many team.
Overview
[Prankster]
Registeel @ Leftovers / Safety Googles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Haze / Topsy-Turvy / Encore
- Destiny Bond
- Shore Up
- U-turn / Parting Shot
Moves
- Haze nullifies any boost the opponent may have accumulated and unlike the other options it works under Psychic Terrain and against Dazzling. It is however a huge momentum drainer since the opponent can simply setup again on Registeel, generating mind games as Registeel doesn't want to leave the ground if the opponent is boosted but wasting a turn on Haze when the opponent switches out is detrimental.
- Topsy-Turvy inverts stats and usually forces out the opponent since they'll lack any firepower.
- Encore forces to repeat the same move for a few turns and it is useful even when the opponent hasn't boosted since it can force to repeat moves that Registeel or its teammates won't mind, possibly offering free switches to teammates that sports immunities to them, like most priority moves blocked by Psychic Terrain Dazzling, Spore, Nuzzle and Will-o-Wisp negated by Poison Heal, or moves stopped by typing immunities, like Core Enforcer against Fairy types. Additionally, Registeel may evade an opponent trying to use Trick by encoring the move with priority. Pokemon carrying items that can't be removed, such as Z-crystals, can afterwards switch in for free.
- Topsy-Turvy and Encore are negated by immunity to priority and Dark Types, however.
- Destiny Bond is used when the boosting opponent can 2HKO you no matter the boosts, taking down the opponent while resetting momentum, but it must be used very consciously since Registeel will be removed from the battle and this is detrimental if Registeel had to check other threats. It isn't worth to use it if the opponent can be walled by another teammate, and in general it should be used only when you don't have any more options.
- Shore Up keeps Registeel healthy by recovering half of its total HP; its 16 PP plus its additional effectiveness under sand makes the move the best one from recovery options.
- U-turn always work, safely brings your teammates on the field, and given Registeel's speed it will make Destiny Bond last for 2 turns. It additionally breaks sashes.
- Parting Shot can be used to switch out from an opponent while weakening it, but being powered by Prankster means that the move is going to fail when used against Psychic Terrain, Dazzling and Dark types.
Set Details
- Leftovers sightly extends Registeel lifespan.
- Safety Goggles on the other hand makes it immune to Spore.
- Absolute minimum speed is used to act last against faster enemies, allowing teammates a safe switch in with U-turn.
- Minimum Attack is used, even with U-turn, to reduce the very rare confusion damage and to reduce the health healed by any opponent using Strenght Sap.
- A Relaxed nature can be used if the player decide to wall a bit better physical moves, as the small increase in physical bulk allows Registeel to avoid the OHKO from V-create coming from Diancie-Mega with an Expert Belt or Rayquaza-Mega without a boosting item, while decreasing the chance of OHKO if they carry a more powerful boosting item.
Usage Tips
- Send Registeel in with slow pivoting moves or predicted boosting moves from the opponent, if Registeel can stop it from sweeping on its tracks.
- If the opponent is able to break all of your team, you should attempt to Destiny Bond it to avoid dealing with it.
- If the opponent when unboosted poses no threat, then neutralize it with Haze, Encore or Topsy-Turvy and prepare to switch out since the opponent will likely do it too.
- Given its bulk and access to priority recovery, Registeel is a great answer to Regigigas, Mewtwo-Mega-Y, Diancie-Mega, Rayquaza-Mega and many other attackers, as it usually walls them and if it doesn't, Registeel can knock them out with Destiny Bond.
Team Options
- Giratina, especially when running Fur Coat, is a great partner as there aren't many Pokemon that can break both without running a particular movepool.
- Audino-Mega is another great partner as Registeel is immune to Poison and resists Steel, the only types Audino-Mega is weak to.
- Because Prankster, targeted moves are blocked by Dark typing, Diancie-Mega is a fantastic offensive partner since it checks all the Dark types in the meta.
Registeel @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Core Enforcer
- U-turn
- Rapid Spin / Knock Off
- Metal Burst
Moves
- Core Enforcer is a great move that shuts down the ability of the opponent if it acted before you. Poison Heal and -ate Pokemon are usually forced out immediately, given Registeel's very slow speed triggering very often the disabling effect of Core Enforcer .
- U-turn keeps the momentum on your side, allowing other pokemons to switch in safely; by virtue of Regenerator, Registeel will also recover a third of its HP.
- Rapid Spin removes the hazard on your field.
- Knock Off removes the item of the opponent.
- Metal Burst punish hitters that try to OHKO Registeel with SE coverage: for example Sheer Force Life Orb Mewtwo-Mega-Y using Blue Flare has a 56% chance of being OHKOed back without any prior damage.
- An Assault Vest is used to take much better many special attacks like Boomburst or Psycho Boost powered by Psychic terrain.
- Minimum speed is used to provide a safe U-turn to any teammate; it also increases the effectiveness of Core Enforcer as its powerful side effect only applies if the opponent has acted before Registeel.
- A Relaxed Nature is used to sightly increase physical bulk, as the Assault Vest already covers the special side of Registeel's defenses and the additional Defense is recommended since Registeel avoids the OHKO or has reduced chance of being OHKOed from V-create carried as coverage move from threats like Rayquaza-Mega and Diancie with a boosting item. Diancie-Mega needs a Life Orb to threaten a OHKO, while Rayquaza-Mega only needs an Expert Belt.
- Regenerator allows Registeel to keep itself healthy even if it cannot run non-attacking moves.
- Assault Vest Registeel has a very easy time switching in special attacks like -ate Rayquaza-Mega due to its bulk. He can then shutdown most -ate due to Core Enforcer or remove theirs items with Knock Off.
- When you predict a switch you may use U-turn to keep momentum on your side and heal Registeel for 1/3 of its maximum health.
- Because Registeel's healthiness depends solely on switching out, try to switch it in even on passive opponents.
- Try to avoid switching into Core Enforcers, as while you are pretty much guaranteed to take next to no harm, they'll remove your only chance of healing.
- It is handy to know that Diancie-Mega and Rayquaza-Mega running V-create for coverage never OHKO this set unless they are running a +Atk Nature and an Expert Belt or Life Orb, which they usually don't.
- A dedicated physical wall is appreciated since this Registeel cannot tank very well physical hits. Giratina and Zygarde are great examples, but unorthodox walls like Fur Coat Audino-Mega works well too.
- Many special attackers like Tinted Lens Mewtwo-Mega-Y, Psychic Surge Mewtwo-Mega-Y and general -ate finds themselves walled when not carrying anything specific for Assault Vest Registeel: this makes the latter a great check to their imposter.
- Because of its increased special bulk, you may elect to run fire coverage in Overheat on said offensive threats, as Registeel won't mind it when not boosted by Choice Specs.
[Magic Bounce]
Registeel @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Defog / Rapid Spin
- Shore Up
- Entrainment / Core Enforcer
- U-turn / Parting Shot
Moves
- Defog removes hazards should not they be deflected by Registeel.
- Rapid Spin is blocked by Ghost types but has more pp than entry hazards.
- Shore Up keeps Registeel alive during the match.
- Entrainment changes the ability of the opponent to Magic Bounce; this is particularly useful as Registeel can force out Pokemon that can ignore Core Enforcer's effects, either by typing or by acting after Registeel.
- Core Enforcer is still perfectly viable as Registeel is slow enough to consistently trigger its effect and can still disable Magic Bounce.
- U-turn is a pivoting move that cannot fail and isn't blocked by anything, thus offering great reliability.
- Parting Shot grabs momentum by safely bringing on the field your teammates and doesn't allow the imposter to switch in as it will be immediately forced out, possibly racking up entry hazard damage. This can however be exploited by the opponent if they switch in a Pokemon that threaten Registeel. It additionally is reflected by Magic Bounce users.
- In the case that Normalize Gengar is particularly deadly to your team, running Knock Off permanently cripples it.
- Magic Bounce allows Registeel to bounce back many utility moves the opponent might use, such as Stealth Rock.
- Because Spore is reflected, this Registeel can freely run items other than Safety Googles, such as Leftovers for increased longevity or Rocky Helmet for punishing U-turn.
- Minimum speed investment increases Core Enforcer efficiency as its effects depends on Registeel acting last and makes pivoting more rewarding by allowing the teammates a free switch in.
- A Relaxed nature can be used if the player decide to wall a bit better physical moves; Registeel can avoid or significantly decrease the chance OHKO from many threat such as -ate users carrying V-create.
- This Registeel set rewards more an aggressive play style as correct predictions may win entire matches, such as reflecting entry hazards back to teams employing Shedinja.
- It can reflect momentum by reflecting Parting Shot back to the user, forcing them in for another round while you can send in whatever you like.
- Additionally it can steal Strenght Sap recovery, negating the opponent its recovery while Strenght Sap lowers its Attack.
- Because of Magic Bounce, this Registeel has no trouble in switching into normalize Gengar-Mega as Entrainment will be reflected.
- Although this set is very effective at keeping hazards out of the field, it isn't definitive as Registeel struggles against Mold Breaker and offensive hazard setters. Safety Googles users, like Giratina and Kyogre-Primal, and Poison Heal users, such us Regigigas, can avoid Spore coming from Mold Breaker users, forcing them out and allowing Registeel to remove entry hazards that they may have set up.
- Pokemon that exert offensive pressure, like Mewtwo-Mega-Y, Rayquaza-Mega and Diancie-Mega, can force out Pokemon that threaten Registeel, giving the latter the chance to remove hazards.
- Registeel can often run many abilities that fill a specific niche, such as Flash Fire to wall attackers with Fire coverage, Levitate to deal with Earth coverage (although it doesn't protect Registeel from Thousand Arrows), Fur Coat to pack a surprising amount of physical bulk or Unaware to check setup sweepers. They are generally sub-optimal, but they may be necessary to check or wall a specific threat, be it from the opponent or an impostored teammate.
- Registeel can run a large number of utility moves to surprise the opponent, but they are usually viable only on the RegenVest Pivot set due to having more room to moves.
- Spectral Thief punish set up as it steals all and only the boost of the opponent; it will also bypass Substitute; this move is particularly useful when running Unaware.
- Nuzzle paralyzes the opponent unless it already suffers from another condition or is a Ground type.
- Poison Fang is the only viable attacking option unaffected by Magic Bounce that can badly poison the opponent.
- Beak Blast punish contact moves users by burning them.
- Anchor Shot together with Core Enforcer removes Poison Heal users if they lack pivoting moves.
- Taunt neutralizes the opponents' opportunities to heal, remove hazards with Defog or setup.
- Entry hazards such as Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes can weaken the opponent's team for your teammates.
- Strong Super Effective Attacks: The best way to deal with Registeel is using Super Effective coverage moves, such as Precipice Blades, V-Create, or Close Combat. Common examples are V-Create Diancie-Mega and Blue Flare Mewtwo-Mega-Y. Registeel may be immune to some of them once in a while however.
- Groudon Primal: Even with its ban, regular Groudon Primal can still be a threatening force and can deal with Registeel with ease. It must be careful with the Prankster variant as it can bring it down with Destiny Bond, and when running Parting Shot it is untouchable as it will leave the field before it is hit.
- Mextwo-Mega-X: Mewtwo-Mega-X can use its Fighting STAB moves to immediately remove Registeel, be it Close Combat, Superpower or Low Kick. It is still vulnerable to Destiny Bond.
- Normalize Gengar-Mega: Once normalized, Registeel is completely helpless against Gengar-Mega unless it runs Encore, that can still annoy it. That said, Normalize Gengar is checked by Magic Bounce Registeel as it cannot be the target of Entrainment.
- Imposter: Registeel and its imposter cannot usually touch each other, but because of imposter Registeel can be either PP stalled or be abused to heal health lost to other threats.
- Trick: Some Choice item users, such as Specs -ate Rayquaza-Mega, may permanently trouble Registeel. Prankster sets carrying Encore can recover from this condition by immediately forcing the opponent to use again Trick, when they don't switch out or use themselves a priority move.
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