Type: Water
Base Stats: 100/100/100/100/100/100 (BST: 600)
Ability: Hydration
Notable Moves:
- Tail Glow
- Heart Swap
- Take Heart
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Stored Power
- Grass Knot
- Tera Blast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Take Heart - The user lifts its spirits, curing its own status conditions and boosting its Sp. Atk and Sp. Def stats. (Psychic, Status, 15 [24] PP)
Pros:
- Manaphy is one of only two users of Tail Glow in Scarlet and Violet as of the Teal Mask's release, and it is by FAR better than Volbeat at... well, everything. It can get +3 Special Attack with a single turn of setup, and +6 with just two turns of setup. This may as well be Manaphy's signature move; it happens to get three, by the way.
- Manaphy gets access to Heart Swap, which can allow it to steal stat boosts from opponents in a pinch. This was Manaphy's original signature move, and is once again Manaphy's signature move now since Magearna lost it.
- Manaphy also gets access to a new signature move in Take Heart, which is effectively Refresh and Calm Mind in a single moveslot. The move is absolutely excellent, but Tail Glow is also terrific. So yes, this thing effectively has three signature moves now.
- Manaphy's excellent 100/100/100 bulk and Water typing make it quite difficult to OHKO, giving it plenty of opportunities to set up and potentially wreck house.
- Manaphy's movepool has expanded considerably since it last made an appearance: Hydro Pump and Stored Power are by far the two biggest additions, with the former granting it a far stronger Water STAB than Surf and the latter allowing it to nuke even Unaware walls from orbit with ease once it sets up (spoiler alert: it will not struggle to set up too much).
- Hydration is a niche ability in most cases, but it allows Manaphy to use Rest to fully heal itself and then naturally clear its own status at the end of the turn when Pelipper's Drizzle is active, giving Manaphy immense longevity and plenty of room to set up multiple boosts.
- Manaphy's excellent coverage, good bulk, and access to setup moves make it a natural fit on Dual Screens, Aurora Veil, and especially Rain teams, where it can obtain numerous boosts and obliterate slower teams.
- Manaphy also has a lot of Terastallization potential, either to boost its damage or flip its matchup against Zapdos upside-down.
- Manaphy has enormous 4MSS: it wants to run all of Tail Glow or Take Heart, Stored Power, a Water STAB, Energy Ball, and Ice Beam and wouldn't mind Dazzling Gleam, Psychic, or Shadow Ball either.
- Base 100 Speed isn't slow, but it isn't the fastest mon out there.
- Manaphy's damage output is enormous once it sets up, but it's entirely reliant upon setting up as well and is relatively weak prior to setting up.
- It or Veil is possibly getting banned eventually, so Manaphy may not be able to utilize its tremendous buffs for too long this generation.
- Water allows Manaphy to power up its Water STAB to enormous levels, especially if Rain is active. After a single Tail Glow, a Rain and Tera Water boosted Surf from Manaphy effortlessly 2HKOs the most specially-bulky Blissey variants, and if it's running Rest it can easily just set up a second Tail Glow in front of Blissey and threaten to even OHKO it from full HP with Surf (Hydro Pump solidly OHKOs at +6 with Rain+Tera Water). So yeah, Manaphy can basically turn into Dracovish.
- Grass gives Manaphy a Ground and Grass resistance and powers up Energy Ball.
- Electric grants Manaphy a beastly defensive typing when facing off against the excellent Zapdos, as Tera Electric resists both its STABs.
- Tera Flying lets Manaphy effortlessly set up against Great Tusk, although Tusk isn't staying in against it whatsoever.
- Generally-good defensive typings like Fairy, Dark, and Steel aren't bad either. The former two can help against Kingambit's feared Sucker Punch, and the latter gives it an immunity to Poison.
Tail Glow+3 Attacks
Manaphy @ Mystic Water / Leftovers / Covert Cloak
Ability: Hydration
Tera Type: Electric / Water / Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Energy Ball / Stored Power / Ice Beam
- Ice Beam / Energy Ball / Stored Power
Run this on a Screens, Webs, or Veil team and you're going to see results; Stored Power in particular allows Manaphy to obliterate Unaware walls. You could consider dropping Tail Glow for Take Heart on this set as well, but you'll be losing out on a lot of immediate power after a turn of setup if you opt to do so.
Tail Glow+2 Attacks
Manaphy @ Leftovers / Covert Cloak
Ability: Hydration
Tera Type: Water / Fairy / Electric / Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Rest
- Surf
- Stored Power / Energy Ball / Ice Beam
Run this on a rain team. Manaphy shouldn't have too hard of a time setting up at least once, and thanks to Hydration its Rest is essentially a full heal with no other drawbacks so long as rain is active.
Crophy
Manaphy @ Leftovers / Covert Cloak
Ability: Hydration
Tera Type: Water / Fairy / Electric / Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Take Heart
- Surf / Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Remember Crocune? Yeah, this is that set on crack. The Speed investment lets it outpace Lando-T; everything else serves to maximize Manaphy's physical bulk, since with enough Take Heart boosts it won't be an issue. Sleep Talk calling Take Heart can allow Manaphy to just end its Rest a turn or two early, meaning it has a much more reasonable chance of getting a lot of mileage out of a good Sleep Talk roll. Surf is stronger, but Scald burns can allow Manaphy to cripple physical attackers, which it can then use as setup fodder. Having answers to Dondozo and Water Absorb users is completely mandatory for this set to function.
Final Thoughts:
Wow, this was a (Tail) glowup I didn't expect, partially because I didn't think this little guy would be coming back in DLC1. Manaphy will be a staple on many forms of Hyper Offense, ranging from Screens/Veil to Rain to even the occasional Sticky Web squad. This little demon got a fancy new signature move that largely outclasses Calm Mind (which some variants ran) and kept the esteemed Tail Glow, and got cool new moves like Hydro Pump and especially Stored Power that greatly expand Manaphy's wallbreaking prowess to new levels. Expect Manaphy to be a top threat, or at least a big enough threat to justify supporting so heavily; slower teams stand absolutely no chance!
