[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 9-11 points
**Overview**: Hisuian Lilligant is a solid wallbreaker and cleaner, sporting respectable Attack and Speed stats alike, but they're far from anything to write home about. Its niche comes from having access to two great abilities in Chlorophyll and Hustle, with the former allowing it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame as well as most Choice Scarf users while in sun, and the latter making it a threatening wallbreaker, especially when paired with Choice Band. Hisuian Lilligant's drawbacks are that it's outclassed in its role as a wallbreaker, as other Fighting-types can offer similar power without forgoing their accuracy while also providing a team with momentum, which means it's usually only seen on sun teams where it competes for team slots with teammates that can usually offer more role compression than just an all-out attacker.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Sun Sweeper**: Usually paired with a damage-boosting item and Chlorophyll, Hisuian Lilligant can sweep through chipped teams thanks to its blistering Speed and access to strong attacks such as Close Combat and Triple Axel. On occasion, it may use Swords Dance to boost its Attack further to cleave through bulkier foes.
**Wallbreaker**: Here we see Hustle coming into play, allowing Hisuian Lilligant to obtain the damage boost of Choice Band while having flexibility in what attack it can use. It'll primarily be seen with Choice Band to further capitalize on its power, but it can also use Victory Dance and Swords Dance, since it can set up on the turns where it forces foes to switch out.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Close Combat, Leaf Blade, Solar Blade, Low Kick, Axe Kick
**Setup Moves**: Victory Dance, Swords Dance, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Healing Wish, Substitute
**Coverage**: Triple Axel, Acrobatics, Poison Jab, Tera Blast, Aerial Ace, Ice Spinner
Niche Moves
========
**Defog**: While Hisuian Lilligant usually wants to be attacking, Defog can be used in a pinch against entry hazard stack teams, since it's able to force most entry hazard setters out.
**Endure**: Coupled with either a Custap Berry or Salac Berry, Endure allows Hisuian Lilligant to safely get at least one extra hit off against most foes.
**Upper Hand**: One way for Hisuian Lilligant to get past its weakness to opposing priority moves is with Upper Hand, although it usually is too pressed for moveslots to comfortably fit it.
Common Items
========
**Damage-boosting Items**: The go-to for either of its sets, Hisuian Lilligant greatly appreciates the increase in power given by damage-boosting items for either of its roles. The most notable of these are Choice Band and Life Orb, which can allow it to break through bulkier structures, but items such as Expert Belt can be serviceable in other scenarios.
Niche Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: In scenarios where sun may not reliably be up, Choice Scarf allows Hisuian Lilligant to outspeed common foes and act as a revenge killer.
**Custap Berry / Salac Berry**: Both Custap Berry and Salac Berry work alongside Endure to give Hisuian Lilligant the ability to get off at least one more hit, with potentially more in the case of Salac Berry.
**Focus Sash**: Primarily used on setup sets, Focus Sash can give Hisuian Lilligant a safe opportunity to use Swords Dance or Victory Dance.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Another apt option with setup sets, Heavy-Duty Boots can be used to circumvent entry hazards, especially Toxic Spikes and Sticky Web, which can otherwise prevent Hisuian Lilligant from setting up safely.
**Lum Berry**: Setup sets can benefit from the one-time immunity to status from Lum Berry, allowing Hisuian Lilligant to set up on Pokemon that would otherwise completely invalidate it.
Tera
========
Hisuian Lilligant is a solid secondary Tera Captain, benefitting offensively from Tera Fighting and Grass to boost its STAB attacks, Tera Ice to boost Triple Axel, and Tera Electric, Fire, and Fairy to give it coverage in certain scenarios. Defensively, it can utilize Tera Fire to avoid Will-O-Wisp or Water to help enable setup. This being said, it doesn't need Tera to function, and it's usually a better idea to make another Pokemon a Tera Captain instead, as they often get more value out of Tera.
Draft Strategy
========
Hisuian Lilligant should primarily be a complementary piece on a sun-based team. While it can function otherwise, it excels in this role, and thus teams drafting it should attempt to capitalize on its synergies with other sun-based Pokemon.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Hisuian Lilligant appreciates its item flexibility, only using Heavy-Duty Boots as a last resort option. It greatly appreciates support from strong entry hazard removal such as Great Tusk, Donphan, and Terapagos.
**Sun Setter**: A reliable sun setter is required to keep sun up for Hisuian Lilligant's Chlorophyll. The two main options for this are Torkoal and Ninetales, with the former giving Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock and Yawn, and the latter giving Healing Wish support. Torkoal is generally preferable, (AC) but either are serviceable. At absolute worst, Prankster Sunny Day users such as Klefki and Tornadus can suffice, but they shouldn't be relied upon.
**Special Wallbreakers**: Hisuian Lilligant works well in tandem with other wallbreakers, allowing one to wallbreak for the other. Options such as Walking Wake and Chi-Yu are reliable on sun teams, while Kyurem and Latios are solid pairings otherwise.
Checks and Counters
========
**Poison-Types**: Poison-type Pokemon as a whole can cause Hisuian Lilligant a lot of problems, as it's unable to naturally break through them, relying on Triple Axel to do so. They tend to be able to threaten OHKOs on it with STAB-boosted Sludge Bomb and Poison Jab, which can lead to a loss of momentum.
**Physical Walls**: Chlorophyll Hisuian Lilligant can find itself lacking power against physically defensive walls such as Iron Hands, Corviknight, and Gholdengo that can comfortably take hits from it and threaten to OHKO it in return.
**Priority**: Hisuian Lilligant naturally is not very bulky, and given that it wants to click Close Combat often, it finds itself susceptible to being revenge killed by common priority moves such as Ice Shard, Extreme Speed, and Vacuum Wave.
**Faster Pokemon**: Outside of sun, Hisuian Lilligant's Speed tier is simply lacking. 105 Speed for something as frail as it is leaves it susceptible to being revenge killed by many faster Pokemon, such as Iron Valiant, Meowscarada, and Cinderace.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/vmnunes.613460/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf2.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 9-11 points
**Overview**: Hisuian Lilligant is a solid wallbreaker and cleaner, sporting respectable Attack and Speed stats alike, but they're far from anything to write home about. Its niche comes from having access to two great abilities in Chlorophyll and Hustle, with the former allowing it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame as well as most Choice Scarf users while in sun, and the latter making it a threatening wallbreaker, especially when paired with Choice Band. Hisuian Lilligant's drawbacks are that it's outclassed in its role as a wallbreaker, as other Fighting-types can offer similar power without forgoing their accuracy while also providing a team with momentum, which means it's usually only seen on sun teams where it competes for team slots with teammates that can usually offer more role compression than just an all-out attacker.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Sun Sweeper**: Usually paired with a damage-boosting item and Chlorophyll, Hisuian Lilligant can sweep through chipped teams thanks to its blistering Speed and access to strong attacks such as Close Combat and Triple Axel. On occasion, it may use Swords Dance to boost its Attack further to cleave through bulkier foes.
**Wallbreaker**: Here we see Hustle coming into play, allowing Hisuian Lilligant to obtain the damage boost of Choice Band while having flexibility in what attack it can use. It'll primarily be seen with Choice Band to further capitalize on its power, but it can also use Victory Dance and Swords Dance, since it can set up on the turns where it forces foes to switch out.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Close Combat, Leaf Blade, Solar Blade, Low Kick, Axe Kick
**Setup Moves**: Victory Dance, Swords Dance, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Healing Wish, Substitute
**Coverage**: Triple Axel, Acrobatics, Poison Jab, Tera Blast, Aerial Ace, Ice Spinner
Niche Moves
========
**Defog**: While Hisuian Lilligant usually wants to be attacking, Defog can be used in a pinch against entry hazard stack teams, since it's able to force most entry hazard setters out.
**Endure**: Coupled with either a Custap Berry or Salac Berry, Endure allows Hisuian Lilligant to safely get at least one extra hit off against most foes.
**Upper Hand**: One way for Hisuian Lilligant to get past its weakness to opposing priority moves is with Upper Hand, although it usually is too pressed for moveslots to comfortably fit it.
Common Items
========
**Damage-boosting Items**: The go-to for either of its sets, Hisuian Lilligant greatly appreciates the increase in power given by damage-boosting items for either of its roles. The most notable of these are Choice Band and Life Orb, which can allow it to break through bulkier structures, but items such as Expert Belt can be serviceable in other scenarios.
Niche Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: In scenarios where sun may not reliably be up, Choice Scarf allows Hisuian Lilligant to outspeed common foes and act as a revenge killer.
**Custap Berry / Salac Berry**: Both Custap Berry and Salac Berry work alongside Endure to give Hisuian Lilligant the ability to get off at least one more hit, with potentially more in the case of Salac Berry.
**Focus Sash**: Primarily used on setup sets, Focus Sash can give Hisuian Lilligant a safe opportunity to use Swords Dance or Victory Dance.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Another apt option with setup sets, Heavy-Duty Boots can be used to circumvent entry hazards, especially Toxic Spikes and Sticky Web, which can otherwise prevent Hisuian Lilligant from setting up safely.
**Lum Berry**: Setup sets can benefit from the one-time immunity to status from Lum Berry, allowing Hisuian Lilligant to set up on Pokemon that would otherwise completely invalidate it.
Tera
========
Hisuian Lilligant is a solid secondary Tera Captain, benefitting offensively from Tera Fighting and Grass to boost its STAB attacks, Tera Ice to boost Triple Axel, and Tera Electric, Fire, and Fairy to give it coverage in certain scenarios. Defensively, it can utilize Tera Fire to avoid Will-O-Wisp or Water to help enable setup. This being said, it doesn't need Tera to function, and it's usually a better idea to make another Pokemon a Tera Captain instead, as they often get more value out of Tera.
Draft Strategy
========
Hisuian Lilligant should primarily be a complementary piece on a sun-based team. While it can function otherwise, it excels in this role, and thus teams drafting it should attempt to capitalize on its synergies with other sun-based Pokemon.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Hisuian Lilligant appreciates its item flexibility, only using Heavy-Duty Boots as a last resort option. It greatly appreciates support from strong entry hazard removal such as Great Tusk, Donphan, and Terapagos.
**Sun Setter**: A reliable sun setter is required to keep sun up for Hisuian Lilligant's Chlorophyll. The two main options for this are Torkoal and Ninetales, with the former giving Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock and Yawn, and the latter giving Healing Wish support. Torkoal is generally preferable, (AC) but either are serviceable. At absolute worst, Prankster Sunny Day users such as Klefki and Tornadus can suffice, but they shouldn't be relied upon.
**Special Wallbreakers**: Hisuian Lilligant works well in tandem with other wallbreakers, allowing one to wallbreak for the other. Options such as Walking Wake and Chi-Yu are reliable on sun teams, while Kyurem and Latios are solid pairings otherwise.
Checks and Counters
========
**Poison-Types**: Poison-type Pokemon as a whole can cause Hisuian Lilligant a lot of problems, as it's unable to naturally break through them, relying on Triple Axel to do so. They tend to be able to threaten OHKOs on it with STAB-boosted Sludge Bomb and Poison Jab, which can lead to a loss of momentum.
**Physical Walls**: Chlorophyll Hisuian Lilligant can find itself lacking power against physically defensive walls such as Iron Hands, Corviknight, and Gholdengo that can comfortably take hits from it and threaten to OHKO it in return.
**Priority**: Hisuian Lilligant naturally is not very bulky, and given that it wants to click Close Combat often, it finds itself susceptible to being revenge killed by common priority moves such as Ice Shard, Extreme Speed, and Vacuum Wave.
**Faster Pokemon**: Outside of sun, Hisuian Lilligant's Speed tier is simply lacking. 105 Speed for something as frail as it is leaves it susceptible to being revenge killed by many faster Pokemon, such as Iron Valiant, Meowscarada, and Cinderace.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/vmnunes.613460/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf2.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
