[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards
**Price Range**: 7-8 points
**Overview**: Ninetales is one of a mere two Pokemon available in the format with access to Drought. Unlike Torkoal, it has a good Speed stat as well as numerous support options for supporting its team such as the reliable Encore, the high-risk but high-reward Hypnosis, and the incredible Healing Wish. It can even go offensive with access to Nasty Plot and solid coverage options. However, Ninetales has a rather low Special Attack stat, meaning any moves outside of sun-boosted STAB moves don't deal much damage without a boost. Additionally, it tends to not last very long due to its weakness to entry hazards, since it wants to set up sun multiple times during a game while holding a Heat Rock, as well as its low overall bulk despite having a decent Special Defense stat. Major competition from Torkoal, which generally has better overall traits, does not help either.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Sun Setter**: Ninetales's main role on a team is to provide automatic sun for its more dangerous teammates to utilize. It can opt to either go bulky in an attempt to survive incoming attacks as it switches in or offensive so that it can actually do damage and not be a passive blob. Ninetales has a deep support movepool that can enable free turns for its teammates and cripple the opposition. No matter which route it chooses to take, it always wants to hold a Heat Rock to create as many sun turns as possible.
**Offensive**: Offensive sets focus on Ninetales utilizing the sun for its own purposes, in which it has multiple options for boosting its offensive potential. Calm Mind and Nasty Plot give it the ability to set up, while Choice items can bypass the need to set up and provide immediate offensive potential to make up for the reduction of sun turns. Although the sun boosts its Fire-type moves, its coverage moves want a boost in order to do meaningful damage. In addition, sacrificing a Heat Rock for items that benefit Ninetales directly means its teammates have less turns to utilize the sun themselves.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Overheat, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Weather Ball
**Setup Moves**: Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Agility, Flame Charge
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Healing Wish, Hypnosis, Memento, Roar, Will-O-Wisp
**Coverage**: Dark Pulse, Energy Ball, Extrasensory, Psyshock, Scorching Sands, Shadow Ball, Solar Beam
Niche Moves
========
**Sunny Day**: Ninetales may find itself in weather wars against other Pokemon that can change the weather. As such, it may benefit from Sunny Day, which prevents it from needing to switch out in order to change the weather.
**Pain Split**: Ninetales typically doesn't last very long in a match thanks to unimpressive bulk and an entry hazard-weak typing. Pain Split can attempt to remedy this, especially during longer games where it has accumulated damage simply by switching into hazards.
**Disable**: Disable is an alternative to Encore that can lock foes out of using the last move they used, potentially allowing Ninetales's teammates to hit the field more safely.
Common Items
========
**Heat Rock**: The go-to item for most sets, Heat Rock gives Ninetales's teammates more turns to utilize the sun and prevents Ninetales from having to enter the field more than it needs to in order to set the sun back up.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Ninetales is very weak to entry hazards, so it does not last very long without support. Heavy-Duty Boots can provide such support by sacrificing extra sun turns in order to allow it to last longer.
Niche Items
========
**Eject Pack**: Eject Pack should be used with Overheat, allowing Ninetales to pivot out of the battle to a more threatening teammate once its stats drop as a result of using the move.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Sets utilizing Ninetales's natural power through its setup and coverage moves may appreciate the extra damage that damage-boosting items can offer. Charcoal gives a decent boost to its already powerful sun-boosted STAB Fire-type attacks, while Life Orb gives a stronger boost to all of its attacks, though the recoil makes it faint a lot faster and thus unable to support its team.
**Choice Specs / Scarf**: In order to take advantage of the fewer sun turns, Choice items can be used to boost either of Ninetales's useable offensive stats in Speed or Special Attack, preventing the need to set up and waste precious sun turns.
Tera
========
Ninetales is a poor choice for a Tera Captain, since its main strength comes in powering up its more dangerous teammates as opposed to itself. Should you wish to make it your Tera Captain anyway, Tera Fire is the go-to choice to make its already-powerful Fire-type attacks even more difficult to stomach. Other options include defensive types such as Tera Water and Fairy to change its weaknesses and make it last longer due to no longer being weak to Stealth Rock. Finally, other offensive types such as Tera Grass and Ghost synergize with Fire-type coverage very well, allowing Ninetales to fire off powerful moves in Solar Beam and Shadow Ball with an extra STAB boost.
Draft Strategy
========
While Ninetales is not drafted early as a centerpiece of a draft, it is otherwise a very crucial piece of sun teams. As such, it should be drafted onto teams that are either already packing sun-boosted Pokemon or ones intending to add such Pokemon to their team. While Ninetales offers fantastic support to these Pokemon either simply by existing or through its own support movepool, it requires ample support and viable teammates in return so that it can perform effectively.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Due to being weak to entry hazards, Ninetales has poor longevity on fields littered with hazards due to usually foregoing holding Heavy-Duty Boots in order to hold a Heat Rock. As such, hazard-removing teammates are paramount to ensure it can continue to set the sun up over the course of the match. Great Tusk is the premier choice, being a Rapid Spin user powered up by the sun, though other options such as Terapagos and Iron Treads can also work effectively as spinners.
**Sun-boosted Teammates**: Drought enables a plethora of teammates that benefit from the sun. Protosynthesis Pokemon such as Raging Bolt and Walking Wake can combine powerful boosts with the extra benefit of a held item thanks to not requiring Booster Energy. Chlorophyll Pokemon like Venusaur and Hisuian Lilligant become dangerous cleaners that are very difficult to revenge kill, even by most Choice Scarf Pokemon, thanks to their enormous Speed stats under sun. Finally, alternate Fire-type Pokemon such as Chi-Yu and Gouging Fire have much better offensive stats than Ninetales, and their Fire-type STAB attacks become extremely oppressive when further boosted by the sun.
Checks and Counters
========
**Entry Hazards**: With entry hazards being found on most teams, Ninetales finds itself worn down through repeated switches over the course of a game, since it does not always run Heavy-Duty Boots. Pokemon that can set entry hazards—notably Stealth Rock—such as Glimmora, Uxie and Ting-Lu create a hazardous environment for it that greatly threatens its longevity.
**Bulky Fire-resistant Pokemon**: Since Ninetales does not do much damage without boosting outside of its STAB moves, Pokemon that can naturally tank Fire-type attacks such as Latios, Cinderace, and Hisuian Arcanine can switch into it and threaten it with their powerful attacks in return.
**Weather-changing Strategies**: Weather is the name of the game with Ninetales, and thus opponents may attempt to counter it using their own weather. Automatic weather setters such as Pelipper and Tyranitar not only can change the weather but have a favorable matchup against it, often forcing it out. They are also slower and thus win the weather war in a lead scenario. Manual weather setters can also prove to be irritating for Ninetales, such as both Slowking formes using Chilly Reception to change the weather while gaining momentum for their team.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/deranged_lime.272077/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards
**Price Range**: 7-8 points
**Overview**: Ninetales is one of a mere two Pokemon available in the format with access to Drought. Unlike Torkoal, it has a good Speed stat as well as numerous support options for supporting its team such as the reliable Encore, the high-risk but high-reward Hypnosis, and the incredible Healing Wish. It can even go offensive with access to Nasty Plot and solid coverage options. However, Ninetales has a rather low Special Attack stat, meaning any moves outside of sun-boosted STAB moves don't deal much damage without a boost. Additionally, it tends to not last very long due to its weakness to entry hazards, since it wants to set up sun multiple times during a game while holding a Heat Rock, as well as its low overall bulk despite having a decent Special Defense stat. Major competition from Torkoal, which generally has better overall traits, does not help either.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Sun Setter**: Ninetales's main role on a team is to provide automatic sun for its more dangerous teammates to utilize. It can opt to either go bulky in an attempt to survive incoming attacks as it switches in or offensive so that it can actually do damage and not be a passive blob. Ninetales has a deep support movepool that can enable free turns for its teammates and cripple the opposition. No matter which route it chooses to take, it always wants to hold a Heat Rock to create as many sun turns as possible.
**Offensive**: Offensive sets focus on Ninetales utilizing the sun for its own purposes, in which it has multiple options for boosting its offensive potential. Calm Mind and Nasty Plot give it the ability to set up, while Choice items can bypass the need to set up and provide immediate offensive potential to make up for the reduction of sun turns. Although the sun boosts its Fire-type moves, its coverage moves want a boost in order to do meaningful damage. In addition, sacrificing a Heat Rock for items that benefit Ninetales directly means its teammates have less turns to utilize the sun themselves.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Overheat, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Weather Ball
**Setup Moves**: Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Agility, Flame Charge
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Healing Wish, Hypnosis, Memento, Roar, Will-O-Wisp
**Coverage**: Dark Pulse, Energy Ball, Extrasensory, Psyshock, Scorching Sands, Shadow Ball, Solar Beam
Niche Moves
========
**Sunny Day**: Ninetales may find itself in weather wars against other Pokemon that can change the weather. As such, it may benefit from Sunny Day, which prevents it from needing to switch out in order to change the weather.
**Pain Split**: Ninetales typically doesn't last very long in a match thanks to unimpressive bulk and an entry hazard-weak typing. Pain Split can attempt to remedy this, especially during longer games where it has accumulated damage simply by switching into hazards.
**Disable**: Disable is an alternative to Encore that can lock foes out of using the last move they used, potentially allowing Ninetales's teammates to hit the field more safely.
Common Items
========
**Heat Rock**: The go-to item for most sets, Heat Rock gives Ninetales's teammates more turns to utilize the sun and prevents Ninetales from having to enter the field more than it needs to in order to set the sun back up.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Ninetales is very weak to entry hazards, so it does not last very long without support. Heavy-Duty Boots can provide such support by sacrificing extra sun turns in order to allow it to last longer.
Niche Items
========
**Eject Pack**: Eject Pack should be used with Overheat, allowing Ninetales to pivot out of the battle to a more threatening teammate once its stats drop as a result of using the move.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Sets utilizing Ninetales's natural power through its setup and coverage moves may appreciate the extra damage that damage-boosting items can offer. Charcoal gives a decent boost to its already powerful sun-boosted STAB Fire-type attacks, while Life Orb gives a stronger boost to all of its attacks, though the recoil makes it faint a lot faster and thus unable to support its team.
**Choice Specs / Scarf**: In order to take advantage of the fewer sun turns, Choice items can be used to boost either of Ninetales's useable offensive stats in Speed or Special Attack, preventing the need to set up and waste precious sun turns.
Tera
========
Ninetales is a poor choice for a Tera Captain, since its main strength comes in powering up its more dangerous teammates as opposed to itself. Should you wish to make it your Tera Captain anyway, Tera Fire is the go-to choice to make its already-powerful Fire-type attacks even more difficult to stomach. Other options include defensive types such as Tera Water and Fairy to change its weaknesses and make it last longer due to no longer being weak to Stealth Rock. Finally, other offensive types such as Tera Grass and Ghost synergize with Fire-type coverage very well, allowing Ninetales to fire off powerful moves in Solar Beam and Shadow Ball with an extra STAB boost.
Draft Strategy
========
While Ninetales is not drafted early as a centerpiece of a draft, it is otherwise a very crucial piece of sun teams. As such, it should be drafted onto teams that are either already packing sun-boosted Pokemon or ones intending to add such Pokemon to their team. While Ninetales offers fantastic support to these Pokemon either simply by existing or through its own support movepool, it requires ample support and viable teammates in return so that it can perform effectively.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Due to being weak to entry hazards, Ninetales has poor longevity on fields littered with hazards due to usually foregoing holding Heavy-Duty Boots in order to hold a Heat Rock. As such, hazard-removing teammates are paramount to ensure it can continue to set the sun up over the course of the match. Great Tusk is the premier choice, being a Rapid Spin user powered up by the sun, though other options such as Terapagos and Iron Treads can also work effectively as spinners.
**Sun-boosted Teammates**: Drought enables a plethora of teammates that benefit from the sun. Protosynthesis Pokemon such as Raging Bolt and Walking Wake can combine powerful boosts with the extra benefit of a held item thanks to not requiring Booster Energy. Chlorophyll Pokemon like Venusaur and Hisuian Lilligant become dangerous cleaners that are very difficult to revenge kill, even by most Choice Scarf Pokemon, thanks to their enormous Speed stats under sun. Finally, alternate Fire-type Pokemon such as Chi-Yu and Gouging Fire have much better offensive stats than Ninetales, and their Fire-type STAB attacks become extremely oppressive when further boosted by the sun.
Checks and Counters
========
**Entry Hazards**: With entry hazards being found on most teams, Ninetales finds itself worn down through repeated switches over the course of a game, since it does not always run Heavy-Duty Boots. Pokemon that can set entry hazards—notably Stealth Rock—such as Glimmora, Uxie and Ting-Lu create a hazardous environment for it that greatly threatens its longevity.
**Bulky Fire-resistant Pokemon**: Since Ninetales does not do much damage without boosting outside of its STAB moves, Pokemon that can naturally tank Fire-type attacks such as Latios, Cinderace, and Hisuian Arcanine can switch into it and threaten it with their powerful attacks in return.
**Weather-changing Strategies**: Weather is the name of the game with Ninetales, and thus opponents may attempt to counter it using their own weather. Automatic weather setters such as Pelipper and Tyranitar not only can change the weather but have a favorable matchup against it, often forcing it out. They are also slower and thus win the weather war in a lead scenario. Manual weather setters can also prove to be irritating for Ninetales, such as both Slowking formes using Chilly Reception to change the weather while gaining momentum for their team.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/deranged_lime.272077/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
