[OVERVIEW]
Hisuian Lilligant's exclusive access to Victory Dance and powerful abilities make it a niche option for offensive teams. Victory Dance bolsters its solid Attack and Speed stats while also giving it some resilience against physical attacks, particularly priority moves such as Aqua Jet from Crawdaunt and Barraskewda as well as Sucker Punch from Bisharp. Both of its abilities aid in Hisuian Lilligant's ability to sweep depending on what type of team it is on; Hustle gives it extra attacking power in exchange for less reliability, while Chlorophyll makes it nigh-impossible to outspeed under sun, especially after a boost from Victory Dance. However, Hisuian Lilligant's typing is a double-edged sword; despite offering useful resistances, it struggles with several common weaknesses, including a nasty 4x weakness to Flying-type moves. Additionally, its STAB moves are resisted by a whopping three types, forcing it to rely on Ice Spinner or Triple Axel for coverage; the former has mediocre power without Tera Ice, while the latter has unreliable accuracy. Hisuian Lilligant is also rather fragile and is prone to being picked off by faster boosted threats like Choice Scarf Gengar and Galarian Zapdos or forms of priority that it does not resist, such as Slither Wing's First Impression. The latter issue becomes especially pressing if it's forced to Terastallize, making it vulnerable to priority users it otherwise checks like Crawdaunt.
[SET]
name: Victory Dance
move 1: Victory Dance
move 2: Leaf Blade / Bullet Seed
move 3: Close Combat
move 4: Ice Spinner / Triple Axel
item: Wide Lens / Loaded Dice
ability: Hustle / Chlorophyll
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
tera type: Fire / Ice
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
====
After one use of Victory Dance, Hisuian Lilligant gains the ability to outrun offensive threats like Galarian Zapdos and Hisuian Zoroark outside of sun while breaking through physically bulky Pokemon like Volcanion and Registeel. If Hustle and Wide Lens are used, then Leaf Blade is the preferred Grass-type STAB move of choice due to its reliable power and high critical hit ratio. On Chlorophyll and Loaded Dice variants, Bullet Seed is the preferred choice due to its higher power, ability to break through lead Terrakion's Focus Sash, and the fact that it does not make contact. Ice Spinner is Hisuian Lilligant's most reliable coverage move, hitting Pokemon that resist Hisuian Lilligant's STAB moves, such as Salamence and Amoonguss, for solid damage. Triple Axel has more damage potential, notably 2HKOing Fezandipiti unboosted; however, it's less reliable due to Hustle cutting into its already-imperfect accuracy, and it can cause Hisuian Lilligant to be burned by Talonflame's Flame Body or heavily chipped by Rocky Helmet from the likes of Chesnaught. If using Loaded Dice, however, Triple Axel is preferred. On non sun teams, Hisuian Lilligant appreciates the power boost Hustle provides; however, it will have to use Wide Lens to partially offset the ability's accuracy penalty. If used on a sun team, Hisuian Lilligant should run Chlorophyll in order to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame under sun. Tera Fire is typically preferred because it prevents Hisuian Lilligant from being burned, letting it set up on the likes of Talonflame and Galarian Weezing. Tera Ice boosts the power of Hisuian Lilligant's Ice-type coverage moves, letting it OHKO Amoonguss with Ice Spinner and pick off weakened Chesnaught. Hisuian Lilligant should only be Terastallized if priority users like Crawdaunt and Lycanroc-D are taken care of, as it will become more vulnerable to being picked off. It is worth noting that both options let it take Ice Shard from Mamoswine, preventing it from revenge killing Hisuian Lilligant.
Hisuian Lilligant best fits on offensive structures, including bulky and hyper offense. On bulky offense, it appreciates specially offensive pivots such as Magnezone and Fezandipiti that can bring it in safely against Pokemon like Jirachi. The former is able to check Poison- and Flying-types like Galarian Weezing and Oricorio-E, while the latter can bait in bulky Steel-types like Registeel, letting Hisuian Lilligant use them as setup bait. Physical wallbreakers like Crawdaunt and Krookodile can put pressure on physical walls like Cresselia to give it an easier time sweeping. Entry hazard support from the likes of Jirachi and Klefki further wear down Pokemon that would otherwise check Hisuian Lilligant like Chesnaught; after one layer of Spikes, Chesnaught is OHKOed by a Triple Axel boosted by Hustle or Tera Ice. Additionally, Hisuian Lilligant appreciates hazard control from Pokemon like Cyclizar and Maushold, helping to prevent it from being picked off by Entei's Tera Normal Extreme Speed. The former is able to remove Rocky Helmet from defensive Pokemon like Hippowdon and Amoonguss with Knock Off, while the latter puts additional pressure on physical walls and can cripple them with Encore. Maushold also appreciates Hisuian Lilligant wearing down its shared checks, such as Rocky Helmet Amoonguss, on hyper offense teams. Torkoal is another excellent hazard-controlling teammate due to its ability to set sun as well as Stealth Rock. On sun teams, Volcanion makes for an excellent teammate due to its ability to check opposing Fire-types like Armarouge and absorb Scald from the likes of Slowbro and Suicune. In exchange, Hisuian Lilligant can smash through the likes of Hisuian Goodra for it and can take Ground-type attacks from Pokemon like Hippowdon and Krookodile.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Tera Blast in conjunction with Tera Psychic or Ghost can be used to muscle through Pokemon that otherwise check Hisuian Lilligant, like Galarian Weezing or Reuniclus, respectively. However, it becomes heavily reliant on Terastallization to hit Pokemon that resist its STAB moves, and it becomes more vulnerable to priority, particularly Sucker Punch. Petal Blizzard is an option on Hustle sets in order to avoid contact-based effects such as Rocky Helmet and Talonflame's Flame Body, though Leaf Blade's critical hit chance makes it the overall stronger option. On Chlorophyll variants, Swords Dance provides more immediate breaking power over Victory Dance; however, it leaves Hisuian Lilligant more vulnerable to physical priority moves like Extreme Speed from Entei and prevents it from outspeeding key threats outside of sun such as Choice Scarf Galarian Zapdos.
Checks and Counters
====
**Poison-types**: Galarian Weezing's high Defense, quadruple resistance to Close Combat, and access to Will-O-Wisp lets it stop Hisuian Lilligant in its tracks, though its lack of reliable recovery makes it prone to getting worn down. Fezandipiti also has a quadruple resistance to Close Combat and can retaliate with a super effective Moonblast; however, it has a high chance to be 2HKOed by its Ice-type coverage without significant Defense investment. Amoonguss can take a boosted Ice-type attack, heavily dent Hisuian Lilligant with Sludge Bomb and Rocky Helmet, and heal off the damage with Regenerator; however, it must watch out for Tera Ice.
**Bulky Psychic-types**: Physically bulky Psychic-types such as Reuniclus and Armarouge can take at least one boosted attack from Hisuian Lilligant before retaliating with a super effective move. Armarouge in particular can take a hit from it and double its Speed with Weak Armor, letting it move first for a revenge kill and reverse sweep.
**Priority**: Mimikyu can take a hit from Hisuian Lilligant thanks to Disguise, hit it with a super effective Play Rough, and pick it off with Shadow Sneak. Slither Wing can revenge kill Hisuian Lilligant with First Impression but doesn't like taking a boosted Ice Spinner or Triple Axel on the switch.
**Faster Revenge Killers**: Faster Choice Scarf users, such as Gengar, Azelf, and Infernape, can outspeed Hisuian Lilligant outside of sun even after a Victory Dance before OHKOing it with a super effective STAB move.
**Status**: If Hisuian Lilligant has not Terastallized into the Fire-type, getting burned can stop it from sweeping. Both Galarian Weezing and Talonflame can cripple it with Will-O-Wisp, with Talonflame also being able to punish it with Flame Body. Additionally, paralysis from the likes of Jirachi and Cresselia can heavily cripple it, especially if it is using Hustle.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bice.236507/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/flampoke.654091/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/rarelyme.513635/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/tbolt.555379/
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