name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Psyshock / Psychic
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Trick / U-turn
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Serene Grace
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
tera type: Ghost / Fairy
[SET COMMENTS]
Sporting a high Special Attack and serviceable Speed tier, Choice Scarf Meloetta is a decent revenge killer and cleaner. While weaker than its main competition in Hoopa, Meloetta is faster, has U-turn to get around awkward matchups, and can use its typing and bulk to function as an emergency check to Ghost-types like Decidueye. Other Choice Scarf users like Florges and Rotom-C are also less explosive than Meloetta, which wields superior coverage and constantly threatens its switch-ins with Serene Grace-boosted Psychic and Shadow Ball. Psyshock applies more pressure to special walls like Gastrodon and Goodra and improves Meloetta's matchup against Calm Mind Florges. Psychic is stronger than Psyshock and more reliable against physically bulky foes like Coalossal. Shadow Ball threatens Ghost- and Psychic-types like Golurk, Hoopa, and Bronzong and hits Steel-types like Copperajah and Alolan Sandslash neutrally. Trick punishes walls like Florges and Milotic and locks setup sweepers such as Scrafty and Dudunsparce down. U-turn is another option that lets Meloetta maintain momentum as foes it can't deal with, such as Wo-Chien and Duraludon, switch in. Using an extra coverage move like Alluring Voice or Focus Blast in the last slot expands the range of foes Meloetta can revenge kill, but doing so makes Meloetta more prediction reliant and exploitable. Tera Ghost lets Shadow Ball OHKO foes like Decidueye after Stealth Rock and makes Meloetta immune to Arcanine's Extreme Speed and Ambipom's Fake Out, preventing these foes from easily revenge killing it. Tera Fairy offers a solid defensive typing that lets Meloetta resist Sucker Punch and blank Dragon-type moves from the likes of Tatsugiri and Goodra. If Meloetta does opt for Tera Fairy, Tera Blast becomes a reasonable alternative to Hyper Voice, though Hyper Voice is stronger and better for revenge killing and cleaning.
Choice Scarf Meloetta offers a nice mix of speed and power that lends itself well to bulky offensive teams. Specially bulky foes like Assault Vest Galarian Slowbro, Wo-Chien, and Bronzong easily tank Meloetta's attacks and can force it to make risky predictions, mandating teammates that can deal with them. Dark-types like Skuntank and Bombirdier match up well against these foes in addition to pressuring other nuisances like Milotic and Naclstack with Knock Off and Taunt and more reliably checking Ghost-types like Hoopa. Strong wallbreakers like Flamigo, Paldean Tauros-W, and Zoroark similarly pose a threat to common special walls—as well as Dark- and Steel-types like Skuntank and Alolan Sandslash—and appreciate Meloetta creating safer openings for them to switch in with either Trick or U-turn. Pokemon like Mudsdale and Copperajah can readily switch in against setup sweepers like Scrafty and Scream Tail, which have no problem taking advantage of Meloetta after it locks into a move. If Meloetta runs U-turn, it can form momentum cores with other pivots like Bellibolt and Scyther. The former can annoy bulkier threats like Arcanine and Milotic with Toxic and gets Meloetta in safer thanks to its slow Volt Switch, while the latter can use Defog to help Meloetta switch around more comfortably. Finally, as a lot of Meloetta's better switch-ins are grounded, it benefits from being paired with Spikers like Gligar, Coalossal, and Qwilfish. On top of limiting how comfortably the likes of Assault Vest Galarian Slowbro, Gastrodon, and Alolan Sandslash can switch into Meloetta, Spikes support also maximizes Meloetta's reliability as a revenge killer in general.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/asa.400292/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bella.567483/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
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