[OVERVIEW]
Trevenant boasts a high Attack stat with decent dual STAB options, which can hit many slower Pokemon in the tier for good damage. It is also backed up by decent coverage such as Earthquake and Rock Slide, giving it solid neutral coverage on the metagame. Natural Cure makes Trevenant a passable status absorber, especially with its resistance to Scald. However, Trevenant is slow, and it's not bulky enough to make up for it. Its numerous weaknesses to common attacking types such as Fire, Ice, Dark, Flying, and Ghost leave it easily revenge killed by many attackers and vulnerable to various coverage moves, which makes it a poor check to Normal- and Fighting-types, such as Tauros, Hitmonchan, and Hariyama. Although Trevenant has good resistances, it is largely outclassed in defensive and supportive roles by Gourgeist-XL, which has superior physical bulk and reliable recovery in Synthesis. Even with its supposed offensive niche, it still competes with Torterra as a Grass-type hole puncher due to the latter's superior resistances, bulk, and stronger STAB moves, although Trevenat's Ghost-typing does give Trevenant mild spinblocking abilities and different neutral STAB coverage.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Shadow Claw
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Horn Leech
item: Choice Band
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Wood Hammer is Trevenant's strongest STAB move, 2HKOing a majority of Pokemon that don't resist it and even some of the frailer ones that do, such as Magmortar, Swellow, and Pyroar, although it comes with hefty recoil damage. Shadow Claw is Trevenant's next best STAB option, with its better neutral coverage making it a decent move to throw out. It is also Trevenant's strongest attack against Psychic-types, particularly Xatu. Earthquake OHKOes Skuntank and Pyroar switch-ins, takes out Garbodor without making contact, and can hurt Steel-types such as Steelix and Aggron more efficiently. Rock Slide targets bulky Flying-types, such as Eviolite Scyther and Swords Dance Charizard, which can otherwise prove bothersome checks. Horn Leech is an alternative Grass-type STAB move for Trevenant to use that restores health instead of depleting it like Wood Hammer, making it decent for extending Trevenant's longevity.
Trick can be used to cripple the likes of Weezing, Vileplume, and Ferroseed while allowing Trevenant to switch up moves, although its attacks do lose substantial power upon doing so and Tricking Choice Band doesn't cripple many of Trevenant's checks. The aforementioned Poison-types might be holding Black Sludge as well, which puts pressure on Trevenant to Trick it away immediately, as it has horrible synergy with Wood Hammer. X-Scissor has mild use in skewering Malamar as well as OHKOing Shiftry switch-ins, though it doesn't hit much outside of that.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed investment allows Trevenant to outspeed and threaten as much as possible, most notably Jolly Rhydon, Malamar, Adamant Golurk, and Adamant Aggron. An Adamant nature further increases Trevenant's damage output, while a Jolly nature allows Trevenant to outspeed Pokemon such as Modest Aurorus, Timid Omastar, Jolly Aggron, and opposing Adamant Trevenant if any of these are of concern. Choice Band bolsters Trevenant's power to the point where even resisted Wood Hammer does substantial damage to frailer Pokemon that resist Grass while suiting its hit-and-run attacking style. Natural Cure allows Trevenant to take on status users without fear, particularly letting it not being permanently crippled by Scald burns.
Usage Tips
========
Trevenant would preferably switch in on an attack it either resists or is immune to, such as Rhydon's Earthquake, Samurott's Waterfall or Aqua Jet, or Tauros's Rock Climb, or a status move from Pokemon that don't immediately threaten it, such as Toxic from Gastrodon or Thunder Wave from Musharna and non-Heat Wave Xatu. Alternatively, VoltTurn support from the likes of Swellow, Archeops, and Manectric can allow Trevenant to enter battle safely. Be wary of switching into Scald; even with Natural Cure ensuring Trevenant won't stay crippled, being burned on the switch means Trevenant would struggle to threaten the opponent's switch-ins. Once it enters battle, Trevenant should choose the move most capable of punching a hole through the opponent's team. Usually this move is Wood Hammer, as it has enough power to 2HKO, if not OHKO after Stealth Rock damage, the likes of Skuntank, Pyroar, Swellow, and Shiftry, which would be the opponent's most likely switch-ins given their resistance to both of Trevenant's STAB moves. However, Trevenant's low Speed and bad weaknesses mean it gets forced out really easily after using an attack or getting a KO, so it might be wise to go for the move with the most immediate results, which is when the other attacks and prediction come into play.
Team Options
========
VoltTurn teams allow Trevenant to enter battle without having to risk taking a direct hit and often absorb status moves or resisted attacks aimed at the VoltTurn users. VoltTurn Pokemon are also speedy, which helps cover for Trevenant's awful matchup against offensive teams. Flying-types such as Swellow, Archeops, and Scyther can use U-turn to pivot into Trevenant on various status moves and appreciate Trevenant threatening Ground- and Rock-types as well as softening up Steel-types for them. Primeape can U-turn away from Psychic-type switch-ins, such as Musharna and Xatu, for Trevenant to prey on, while Trevenant can cripple Poison-types with Earthquake or Trick. Lanturn and Manectric make for appealing Volt Switch teammates for Trevenant, as they can handle most Flying-type Pokemon, as well as Fire-type Pokemon in Lanturn's case, while Trevenant easily takes advantage of opposing Lanturn, Gastrodon, and Rhydon while also luring in and denting bulky Grass-types. Fire-types also can synergize well with Trevenant, as they offer speed, great offensive presence, and the ability to threaten most Pokemon that resist Grass, such as Vileplume, Weezing, and Scyther, which deter Trevenant from throwing out Wood Hammers. Trevenant meanwhile absorbs status for them and resists or otherwise covers for most of their weaknesses, including Pyroar's Fighting weakness and Combusken's Psychic weakness. Floatzel can be a good teammate for Trevenant, as it can revenge kill many of the Pokemon that would threaten Trevenant, while Trevenant can switch into Lanturn and Gastrodon and threaten them with powerful attacks, although switching into the former can be risky if they can Volt Switch into a Pursuit trapper.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Rest could be considered alongside Natural Cure to give Trevenant effectively a Full Restore, but this forces Trevenant out when it has issues entering battle to begin with, and it doesn't really help Trevenant much more than Horn Leech's recovery would, when considering that Trevenant is not difficult to KO. Trevenant is one of the few self-sufficient Trick Room attackers in the tier, as it has high power and effective neutral coverage to attempt a sweep. However, Trevenant's average bulk and exploitable defensive typing gives it few safe setup opportunities, and its reliance on Wood Hammer for damage output heavily dwindles its longevity as well as its chances at maintaining the sweep.
The large majority of Trevenant's gimmick potential comes from its Harvest sets, where it is capable of making use of a wide variety of Berries. Custap Berry with Destiny Bond and Endure can be an interesting way to use Trevenant as a Pokemon that can thwart setup sweepers. Custap Berry allows a heavily weakened Trevenant, usually achieved via Endure, to use Destiny Bond before the faster foe can move, and should Harvest activate right after, Trevenant can go for Destiny Bond again. Should Harvest not activate, Trevenant can sneak in an attack, as Destiny Bond remains active until Trevenant's next move, meaning the opponent has to spend two actions not KOing Trevenant between the Custap-boosted Destiny Bond and Trevenant's slower attack. Should Harvest not activate once in two consecutive turns, Trevenant can stall with Endure for a third try. However, the chain is broken if Harvest fails to activate even once in three consecutive turns, and it can be circumvented by an attacker with priority moves, Taunt, or status-inducing moves. Lum Berry allows Trevenant to absorb status, particularly from bulky Water- and Psychic-type Pokemon, and gives it a drawback-free Rest, but Trevenant doesn't have the bulk and typing necessary to take on many of the offensive attackers and even some of the status-inducing Pokemon of the tier, making its instant recovery much less valuable. Starf Berry gives a random +2 boost to one of Trevenant's stats, most notably including evasion, when Trevenant is below 25% health. Combined with Substitute, the luck-of-the-draw element of this set can either allow Trevenant to sweep the foe with little to no opposition or completely fall flat on its face as it gains useless boosts. Substitute + Leech Seed alongside Sitrus Berry sounds annoying to beat but is inefficient compared to Trevenant's other sets and stopped rather easily by the likes of Taunt Skuntank, pierced by sound-based moves from Scrappy Swellow and Refrigerate Aurorus, and outright shut down by Unnerve Pyroar.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Poison-types**: Weezing and Vileplume are rather hard counters to Trevenant, taking on all of the Choice Band set's attacks with relative ease and either outlasting it, crippling it, or beating it one-on-one. While these Pokemon dislike Trick, Trevenant also dislikes Black Sludge further limiting the number of Wood Hammers it can use before it succumbs to recoil. Garbodor can be a nuisance for Trevenant, as it can punish most of Trevenant's attacks with Rocky Helmet and hurt it with Gunk Shot, though it has to be wary of Earthquake.
**Sap Sipper Miltank**: Miltank is barely scratched by any of Trevenant's common moves and can easily heal off any damage taken. However, Miltank might lack a way of actually hurting Trevenant back and is one of the few Trevenant answers that are badly crippled by Trick.
**Dark-types**: Skuntank is a major thorn in Trevenant's side, as its resistance to Trevenant's dual STAB types as well as its access to Taunt and Pursuit can shut down most Trevenant sets. Shiftry also resists Trevenant's STAB types and easily threatens the OHKO with Knock Off. Liepard has a much harder time switching in but can still threaten Trevenant with Knock Off or Pursuit. However, these Dark-types are physically frail and dislike eating hits from Choice Band Trevenant, as Wood Hammer cleanly 2HKOes Skuntank through its resistance.
**Fire-types**: Fire-types resist Grass and can easily revenge kill Trevenant, making them decent initial switch-ins. Pyroar receives a special mention due to its Ghost immunity, although Choice Band-boosted Wood Hammer can still 2HKO Pyroar and Earthquake drops it in one blow. Charizard 4x resists Grass, and bulky sets can stomach Shadow Claws, although Rock Slide will demolish Charizard with ease. Magmortar and Combusken have more difficulty finding safe switch-ins, but otherwise they still make for good checks.
**Faster Offensive Pokemon**: While Trevenant is not the easiest Pokemon to switch into, it is one of the easiest Pokemon to force out due to its poor Speed and plentiful weaknesses. There are a multitude of Pokemon that can pick off Trevenant, such as Scyther, Archeops, Jynx, Rotom, Vivillon, Abomasnow, Haunter, and the aforementioned Dark- and Fire-type Pokemon.
**Coverage moves**: Trevenant has a hard enough time against the large majority of fast attackers in the metagame, but limiting Trevenant's safe switches only curbs its presence even further, which isn't hard due to Trevenant's many exploitable weaknesses. Examples include Knock Off Gurdurr, Knock Off Hariyama, Ice Punch Hitmonchan, Fire Blast Tauros, Ice Beam Water-types, and Heat Wave Xatu.
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