Necrozma
QC: TDK, p2, Hootie
GP: The Dutch Plumberjack
[OVERVIEW]
* Necrozma boasts solid stats across the board save for an average Speed stat.
* It has access to arbitrary but handy status moves such as Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Morning Sun.
* Great bulk, access to recovery, and ability in Prism Armor allow Necrozma to stand up fairly well against multiple attacks while active.
* Its Calm Mind set is a dominant threat towards offensively oriented teams as unboosted attackers and even boosting sweepers often cannot keep up with Necrozma's defense boosts.
* Necrozma has an extremely limited offensive movepool, with coverage attacks basically consisting only of Flash Cannon, Dark Pulse, Hidden Power, and Earthquake.
* It unfortunately cannot access Hidden Power Fighting to combat Steel- and Dark-types due to it being guaranteed three perfect IVs.
* Mono-Psychic typing is generally below average in attacking and defending.
* It has no good way to cover Dark-types.
* It is greatly reliant on matchups and team support for success.
* Any other role Necrozma may consider is likely done better by Mew and Clefable, which have more reliable recovery, similar or better movepools, and/or better typing.
[SET]
name: Stored Power
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Morning Sun
move 3: Stored Power
move 4: Iron Defense
item: Leftovers
ability: Prism Armor
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Calm Mind boosts Necrozma's Special Attack and Special Defense to the point where it is nearly unpenetrable with special attacks after two or more boosts.
* Morning Sun is the only form of reliable recovery Necrozma has, patching it up when it's below half health. However, it has low PP and becomes ineffective in sandstorm and rain.
* Stored Power hits extremely hard after two Calm Mind boosts and blows past most Psychic-resistant Pokemon, special walls, and opposing Calm Mind sweepers after more.
* Iron Defense doubles Necrozma's Defense in a pinch and contributes to Stored Power's Base Power, making attempts to break it physically extremely difficult. Iron Defense also allows Necrozma to set up safely against opposing Dragon Dance or Swords Dance users.
* Substitute blocks status (Toxic in particular) and allows Necrozma to anticipate attempts at Trick or other deadly attacks.
* Hidden Power Bug is Necrozma's only possible Hidden Power that hits Dark-types super effectively, but it otherwise offers subpar coverage and utility compared to Iron Defense.
Set Details
========
* A Bold nature with maximum HP and significant investment in Defense optimizes Necrozma's physical bulk so it sets up easily while patching up its Special Defense with Calm Mind.
* Investing 112 EVs in Speed allows Necrozma to outrun everything below uninvested base 90 Speed Pokemon, including defensive Landorus-T, Jolly maximum Speed Azumarill and Alolan Marowak, and especially Taunt Tapu Fini.
* As Necrozma can easily boost its Defense with Iron Defense faster than its Special Defense with Calm Mind, it can opt to run a specially defensive spread with a Calm nature to cover its initially lower Special Defense.
* Leftovers neutralizes burn damage and gives Necrozma passive recovery while setting up.
* Alternatively, a Lum Berry can heal status such as Toxic poison and sleep once, giving Necrozma time to set up one more boost or KO status users.
Usage Tips
========
* Necrozma should generally be used as a late-game sweeper after its teammates have greatly weakened or eliminated its checks and counters.
* It is incredibly easy to set up with either Calm Mind or Iron Defense, as most threats cannot keep up or break through, even with their own setup moves.
* Attempt to stay away from Toxic at all costs, as it is one of three surefire ways of ending Necrozma prematurely.
* Do not set up if Dark-types are present. However, if they are damaged passively through burn, poison, or Life Orb recoil, Necrozma can stall these threats out until they faint by boosting its defenses.
* If faced against a team that relies on multiple status users, it may be beneficial to purposely get burned instead of Toxic poisoned. The former deals less damage per turn and is neutralized by Leftovers, while the latter will take Necrozma down in a few turns thanks to increasing damage.
Team Options
========
* Necrozma needs a Dark-type elimination squad or it is dead weight, period.
* Dugtrio can eliminate most Dark-types and other counters by using its Reversal set, getting rid of even faster Dark-types such as Weavile and Ash-Greninja if its Focus Sash is intact. Dugtrio also has access to Memento and Toxic, the former of which lets Necrozma and other sweepers set up easily, while the latter poisons Dark-types it cannot KO in a pinch.
* Toxic Spikes support helps Necrozma stall out grounded threats (especially special walls and Dark-types) while boosting and recovering. Nihilego and Toxapex are good users of the move.
* In the same vein, running Toxic on some teammates can let them cripple several of Necrozma's would-be checks and counters, allowing it to stall them out while boosting.
* Fairy-types such as Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Lele do well against typical Dark-types while applying pressure on many other threats.
* Powerful wallbreakers such as Kyurem-B, Kartana, Mega Charizard X, and Hoopa-U can do heavy damage and leave Necrozma to pick up the pieces.
* Fighting-types such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Pheromosa put intense pressure on Steel- and Dark-types while posing a great threat against other foes thanks to their coverage and power.
* Scolipede is a notable teammate, as it can pass Speed boosts, further adding to Stored Power's Base Power and making Necrozma a faster threat. However, it makes the team doubly matchup reliant, as this combination cannot handle phazing or Haze effectively.
* Teammates should also prioritize defeating common Toxic users such as Chansey and Heatran; the aforementioned wallbreakers do well in this regard.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* An offensive set with Stealth Rock, coverage attacks such as Dark Pulse, and significant Special Attack investment allows Necrozma to be a hard-hitting threat. However, this set is otherwise unexceptional compared to those of other offensive Psychic-types.
* A defensive Stealth Rock tank set is decent, as Necrozma's physical bulk is very good, and allows it to check foes and be generally useful after setting up the entry hazard. However, it suffers from limited coverage and passivity.
* Earthquake and Brick Break hits troublesome targets such as Heatran, Bisharp, and Tyranitar but have no other use and waste a moveslot.
* A Trick Room support set is an option to capitalize on Necrozma's average Speed and access to Trick Room and Stealth Rock, as well as nice defenses and Special Attack.
* Psyshock can be used over Stored Power for its higher Base Power before Calm Mind boosts, allowing Necrozma to switch in and check foes in a pinch and not be ineffective without boosts.
* Hidden Power Fire provides good coverage against defensive threats such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory, giving it a decent matchup against leads on Stealth Rock sets.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Dark-types**: As Necrozma relies nearly exclusively on Psychic-type attacks to deal damage, any Dark-type is a full-on stop, as they are immune to Psychic-types attacks and deal super effective STAB damage. Mega Sableye is a particularly persistent annoyance that often stays around thanks to its good typing, bulk, recovery, access to Magic Bounce (thus voiding attempts to use Toxic on it), and immunity to trapping.
**Toxic**: If Necrozma has not gathered enough boosts to sweep the remaining opposition and is afflicted with Toxic poison, it will go down soon, as it has no way of healing itself from it. Chansey, Toxapex, Quagsire, and Hippowdon are common users of the move.
**Strong Special Attackers**: As Necrozma's Special Defense is often scarcely invested, exceptionally strong special attackers can take advantage of this weakness if Necrozma has not set up many Calm Mind boosts beforehand. Tapu Koko, Mega Charizard Y, Choice Specs Pheromosa, and Choice Specs Tapu Lele are common examples of these types of threats. Additionally, Manaphy can outboost Necrozma with Tail Glow and halve the healing of Morning Sun with Rain Dance.
**Select Steel-types**: Steel-types are very rarely a problem, as many of them lack the tools to take down Necrozma quickly and are set up on very easily. However, Mega Metagross can be a nuisance, as it sports a quadruple resistance to Stored Power and can fish for critical hits or an Attack boost by spamming Meteor Mash. Heatran commonly packs Magma Storm, Toxic, and Taunt, allowing it to wear down and limit a Necrozma without many boosts easily.
**Volatile Status and Trick**: Taunt, Encore, and being Tricked a Choice item are huge roadblocks to Necrozma's setup as faster users of said moves can lock it into an unfavorable move and prevent it from setting up. Tapu Fini and Heatran are notable users of Taunt. Very few relevant threats outside of the rare Choice Specs Latios, Choice Scarf Jirachi, Mega Alakazam, and Alolan Ninetales use the latter two moves.
**Stat-resetting Moves**: As Necrozma is sometimes reliant on accumulating stat boosts to clean up, users of Haze and Clear Smog may present a small problem if Necrozma cannot KO them in time. However, no notable users of these moves outside of Toxapex, Amoonguss, Tapu Fini, and Mantine exist, and the former two are hit super effectively and risk being KOed by boosted and unboosted STAB Psychic-type attacks. Additionally, Tapu Fini lacks recovery and vastly prefers using other moves, while Mantine takes considerable damage from a strongly boosted Stored Power. While phazing is an option, it is merely prolonging the inevitable, as Necrozma has a very safe setup and typically only sweeps late-game.
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