Grafaiai

[Lily]

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Type: Poison/Normal
Base Stats: 63 HP / 95 Atk / 65 Def / 80 SpA / 72 SpD / 110 Spe
Abilities: Unburden, Poison Touch, Prankster
Notable Moves (STAB Bolded): Acrobatics, Encore, Gunk Shot, Knock Off, Low Kick, Parting Shot, Poison Jab, Super Fang, Swagger, Switcheroo, Swords Dance, Taunt, Tera Blast, Toxic, U-turn,
Notable Items: Heavy-Duty Boots, Black Sludge, Choice Scarf, Mirror Herb

Pros:
- Grafaiai's typing is as interesting as it is unique, offering it a cool set of resistances. Most notably, Grafaiai is capable of switching into Gengar's STAB moves decently, while also being able to check the likes of Polteageist, Mimikyu and Hatterene.
- Access to Prankster Encore and Parting Shot lets Grafaiai cheese past Pokemon you'd expect it to lose to like Espathra, Hatterene and Hawlucha.
- The combination of Gunk Shot and Knock Off is incredibly difficult to switch into when factoring in the hefty poison chance, with only Bisharp and Lucario being able to do so safely.
- Its Speed tier is fantastic and lets it offensively check the likes of Iron Jugulis, Pawmot, Hydreigon, and Slither Wing.
- Grafaiai is very versatile and can run Poison Touch over Prankster if its Encoring talents are unneeded, letting it act as a devastating pivot with U-turns that frequently poison and chip switch-ins like Quagsire and Gastrodon.
- It can also run a Mirror Herb set with Swagger to activate Unburden and generate a setup opportunity in the same turn.

Cons:
- Disappointing natural bulk can lead to Grafaiai going down in a single hit if the opponent attacks it, predicting it'll come in on a setup move. While it can eat some unboosted Stored Powers from Espathra and Hatterene, it can't really take a Haxorus's Earthquake.
- Gunk Shot is a great STAB move but its accuracy and power can both be disappointing coming off Grafaiai's only decent Attack stat.
- Grafaiai struggles somewhat with 4MSS; it wants to run all of Gunk Shot, Knock Off, Low Kick, Parting Shot, Encore and Toxic, but it can't fit all of these moves.

Sets:

Grafaiai @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster / Poison Touch
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off
- Parting Shot
- Encore

(dark tera allows it to check espathra by locking into stored power if needs be)

Grafaiai @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Touch
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Low Kick

(ghost tera allows it to check ekiller lucario)

Grafaiai @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Unburden
Tera Type: Grass / Flying
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swagger
- Gunk Shot
- Low Kick
- Tera Blast / Acrobatics

Good teammates include Pokemon like Quagsire that can handle the setup sweepers like Ekiller Lucario that Grafaiai can't handle, Pawmot and Noivern who make effective pivoting cores with it, and Spikes setters like Gastrodon and Toedscruel that can make Grafaiai's pivoting capabilities even more brutal.

Grafaiai is a great mon, possibly top 5 in the entire tier. If you haven't tried it out yet, be sure to give it a shot!

 

[L0t4d]

Another Unburden/Acrobatics set:

Grafaiai @ Poison Barb / Toxic Orb
Ability: Unburden
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fling
- Acrobatics
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off / Parting Shot / U-turn

Poison Barb provides a 1.2x boost to the already powerful Gunk Shot, or can be thrown with Fling for 70 BP and a guaranteed poisoning. After getting rid of it, Unburden activates, doubling Grafaiai's speed, and Acrobatics becomes a 110 base power attack. This is further complemented by a Flying Tera type, which can provide immunity to otherwise threatening Ground-type attacks while also boosting Acrobatics even more. The final move slot is a choice between Knock Off, which provides nice item-removing utility, or Parting Shot/U-turn, which let Grafaiai more effectively switch out in response to its common checks, like Psychic and Fighting types.

 

[Clanger]

How's this mon doing on the ladder? Has anyone explored with Taunt? Seems like it could be really annoying.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Grafaifai just isn't as potent as it previously was. With many of the Pokémon it used to do well against rising out-of the tier or banned its not a star anymore. It is still pretty good and is able to check some threats such as grass types and Gengar to a extent. There are also new threats like Tyrannitar and Orthworm that eat it for breakfast for pretty much all variants without Low Kick. Another thing to factor is its bulk is horrendous and almost anything faster will destroy it.