Pokémon X and Y/Species Strategies (Generation VI Families)

This page contains information on every Pokémon family first introduced in Generation VI, including stats, recommended movesets and evolutionary lines. All evolutionary lines are put together, even if an evolution or pre-evolution was not introduced in the same Generation as other members of its evolutionary family.

Chespin, Quilladin and Chesnaught
Chesnaught is rather unique for a bulky fighter due to its access to the exclusive Bulletproof ability. This ability grants it immunity to certain moves, many of which are popular attacks, such as Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, and most crucially, Sludge Bomb. It has nice physical bulk and a typing that gives it helpful resistances to Water, Ground, Electric and Dark type attacks, but consequently leaves it vulnerable to Fire, Ice and Fairy moves, and a very bad double weakness to Flying moves considering the type's popularity. It has a range of support moves to help it set up hazards and keep itself alive, while it also has a decent Attack stat when it needs to fight directly. Its poor special bulk makes it vulnerable to strong special attackers, while its poor Speed holds it back offensively and makes it easy to shut down by faster Taunt users.

Chesnaught doesn't usually need more than one attack when playing a support role. Drain Punch is a great Fighting-type STAB move for a tanky attacker, as it lets Chesnaught sustain itself while damaging the opponent. Wood Hammer and Seed Bomb are straightforward Grass-type STABs, but they see less use outside of dedicated attacking sets. Chesnaught's high Defense and access to Spikes makes it a capable hazard setter, and it can even add on Leech Seed for added chip damage. It has both Taunt and Roar as measures against hazard removers, although it needs to use them preemptively as they switch in due to Chesnaught's poor Speed. Its exclusive move Spiky Shield is Protect that also counters contact moves, useful for scouting out enemy movesets. In addition to Drain Punch and Leech Seed, it can use Synthesis to keep itself healthy. Chesnaught can also use Belly Drum to sweep, staying alive with heavily boosted Drain Punches, but its poor Speed and many weaknesses mean it is easily revenge killed.

Fennekin, Braixen and Delphox
As a Fire-type, Delphox is a really conventional special attacker, having good special stats and Speed. However, given that fast special attackers are the single most common archetype of Fire-types, Delphox really has to struggle to differentiate itself from the rest. Delphox's Fire/Psychic typing is pretty uncommon and gives it a resistance to Fighting-type moves, but hurts Delphox more than it helps overall due to its weaknesses to Ghost and Dark. Delphox's Special Defense is also quite high for a Pokemon of its archetype, but its physical bulk suffers as a result. Unlike the other Kalos starters, Delphox's hidden ability isn't playstyle defining, or practical at all. Overall, Delphox is pretty good at what it does, its main issue being that its outclassed by too many similar Pokemon.

Fire Blast or Flamethrower serves as Delphox's primary STAB move, depending on whether power or accuracy is more important. Psychic and Psyshock are Psychic-type STAB options, and while they don't have much type synergy with Fire, their ability to hit common Fighting-types and the occasional Poison-type is still valuable. Psyshock's trait of targeting the foe's Defense stat in particular can help Delphox defeat special walls. Grass Knot offers great coverage with Flamethrower or Fire Blast, hitting Water, Ground and Rock-types super effectively. Dazzling Gleam is used to take down Dragons and provide Delphox some protection against Dark-types. Delphox's special bulk also lets it run Calm Mind to rack up boosts, with an optional Substitute for protection against physical or status moves. Lastly, Will-O-Wisp can cripple opposing offensive Pokemon with its chip damage and Attack reduction.

Froakie, Frogadier and Greninja
Greninja is one of the most popular Pokémon introduced in Gen VI, and that's not just due to its cool design. Contrasting other Water-type starters in the past, which pack on bulk while compromising Speed, Greninja is a glass cannon. With an awesome 122 base Speed and strong offensive stats, Greninja is a fairly threatening attacker. Most importantly, Greninja gets the nearly exclusive Protean as its hidden ability, which is where much of its potency comes from. Protean automatically changes Greninja's type to the typing of its move used before it attacks. This gives Greninja STAB on all of its attacks and makes it very unpredictable, due to its ability to constantly change its resistances and weaknesses. Greninja's major flaw is its frailty, and it will often have trouble entering the field into an attack. This also somewhat diminishes the defensive advantage of Protean. Both of Greninja's attack stats, although above average, aren't excellent, so it might not be able to KO certain opponents before they can hit back with a lethal move.

While both of Greninja's attack stats are usable, most players prefer to focus on its special moves, given that its specially-based movepool is wider and that its Special Attack stat is plainly higher. Indeed, Greninja has a ton of moves to utilize Protean with. Hydro Pump is its main STAB move, boosting high power and decent accuracy, although Surf is a slightly more reliable alternative. Dark Pulse is a great secondary STAB that provides nice coverage alongside Hydro Pump, but is sometimes replaced by another move to deal with specific threats. Ice Beam is a vital coverage move to be used against Grass-types and Dragon-types which resist Hydro Pump. Extrasensory is another popular move that Greninja naturally learns, which let it break through some of its common threats, most notably Mega Venusaur. Finally, Greninja can be a speedy hazard setter with Spikes, while still being a capable offensive Pokémon.

Bunnelby and Diggersby
Bunnelby and Diggersby look like your average early-game rodent, with pretty terrible stats and nothing much going for them. However, Diggersby is one of the very few Pokémon that gets Huge Power, doubling its poor Attack stat into dangerously high levels. Its Huge Power boosted attacks are extremely hard-hitting, and its two STABs offer great neutral coverage, with Ground-type attacks able to break down the Rock and Steel types that resist Normal. However, it has some glaring flaws. It has poor Speed, which keeps it from being a powerful sweeper and means it must often sponge attacks before attacking back if it doesn't have a priority move. Both of its STABs also have common immunities, causing it to have trouble against Pokémon like Gengar, Drifblim, Skarmory and Bronzong, which have either partial or complete immunity to its main attacks. Despite that, Diggersby's sheer power lets it remain as a decently effective Pokémon for tearing through defensive teams.

If you want to use Diggersby, always have Huge Power as its ability, as it is a terrible Pokémon otherwise. Return is its strongest Normal-type attack without any drawbacks when at max happiness, and will be the attack of choice against Pokémon that don't resist it. Earthquake is Diggersby's strongest Ground-type move. While it has lower power than a maximized Return, it offers great coverage with Return as it is effective against Rock and Steel types that can tank a Return. Quick Attack gives it a strong priority attack to circumvent its subpar Speed. For coverage moves, either Stone Edge or Wild Charge can be used. Stone Edge has higher damage but lower accuracy, while Wild Charge does more damage to Steel-types that are immune to Earthquake, such as Skarmory and Bronzong, as well as offer some coverage, particularly against Water-types. Finally, U-Turn is an option to let you switch out while doing damage, useful when you find yourself up against a Pokémon that Diggersby has no hope of breaking through.

Fletchling, Fletchinder and Talonflame
Talonflame evolutionary family is the early bird Pokémon line of Kalos. Talonflame is quite unlike its predecessors not just in its type combination, but also its usefulness in battle. Talonflame's stats look uninteresting, with its only nice stat being its great Speed, but it also comes with the excellent Gale Wings ability, which increases the priority of every Flying-type move. This makes moves like Brave Bird, Roost or Tailwind move first, making Talonflame one of the best revenge killers and support Pokémon there is, and even a potential sweeper. Gale Wings also means that it can invest exclusively in Attack to maximize its power without worrying about getting outsped. While its high Speed may seem pointless with Gale Wings, it also means it will almost certainly move first against other priority users. While Talonflame is one of the most popular and useful Pokémon there is, it has some definite flaws. Its Fire/Flying type has several well-known weaknesses, including a terrible 4x weakness to Stealth Rock that limits its ability to switch in often. It also has poor bulk, made worse as it relies on recoil moves to do damage. Talonflame also lacks sheer power, as its 81 Attack means that sufficiently bulky Pokémon can take hits without fear.

Talonflame is decently flexible in the moves it can use. Brave Bird is its best Flying STAB, having great neutral coverage and getting Gale Wing's priority boost. Flare Blitz is a good secondary STAB move for Steel-types, and has equivalent power as Brave Bird. U-Turn is a good utility move for scouting out possible switches or to bail out of unfavorable matchups. Roost is a great healing move if it finds the space to use it, being boosted by Gale Wings and letting heal off damage taken from its recoil moves. Tailwind is another great priority move for supporting teammates instead, and it is even better in double or triple battles. Talonflame can run Will-o-Wisp as for supporting, useful for crippling its usual counters, which are usually physical attackers packing a Rock move. Taunt can be used if you fear its defensive counters instead, being able to shut down walls that rely on status moves. Finally, Talonflame gets a variety of boosting moves, from Hone Claws to Bulk Up to Swords Dance. Bulk Up is probably the best, as Talonflame is far too frail to setup with any other boosting move.

Scatterbug, Spewpa and Vivillon
Although there have been many early-game butterflies before Vivillon, it is designed to perfect this usually terrible archetype. Vivillon has pretty terrible stats, but it gets a bunch of useful tools. As a butterfly-like Pokemon, it can use Quiver Dance to boost its Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed at the same time. It also gets the handy Compound Eyes and Hurricane combination, which increases the accuracy of Hurricane enough to make it a reliable attack. Alas, it is still held back by the same weaknesses as other Bug Pokemon of its kind. It has terrible defensive stats, so it has trouble switching in and is very vulnerable to getting revenge killed while sweeping. Its Bug/Flying type is highly exploitable, and leaves it with a terrible 4x weakness to Stealth Rock. It also lacks power, since as strong as Hurricane is, it can still be walled due to Vivillon's average Special Attack.

The hardest part about using Vivillon is pulling off the first Quiver Dance. Vivillon is extremely frail and has poor unboosted speed, so it is best brought in against Pokemon that fear Hurricane, such as most Grass-types. It's a good idea to give Vivillon a Focus Sash to ensure it survives long enough to pull off a boost. Vivillon also commonly carries Sleep Powder to incapacitate an opponent, using the free turn from the switch to set up a Quiver Dance. Once the Quiver Dance is up, all it has to do is fire off powerful Hurricanes. Energy Ball is a decent coverage move for Rock-types that Vivillon is extremely weak to, but unfortunately it lacks the movepool to deal with Steel-types, which resists both its STAB Hurricane and Energy Ball.

Litleo and Pyroar
Pyroar is one of the myriad of specially-inclined Fire types in the game. With poor bulk, unfitting abilities and a poor special movepool, they are terribly outclassed by plenty of other Fire-types. Pyroar is decent at what it does, with respectable Special Attack and great Speed that gives it a strong offensive presence. It has the exclusive type combination of Fire/Normal, which gives it a helpful immunity to Ghost but an extra weakness to Fighting. While the STAB combination of Fire and Normal has great neutral type coverage, but is stopped handily by Rock-types. Pyroar's typing also leaves it vulnerable to Stealth Rock and popular priority moves, chiefly being Mach Punch.

Fire Blast, Overheat or Flamethrower are the obvious choices for Pyroar's primary STAB. Fire Blast deals more damage, but Flamethrower is a lot more reliable, while Overheat has great power but forces Pyroar out early. Hyper Voice is Pyroar's best Normal-type STAB, and has the added bonus of hitting enemies behind Substitutes. If you need more power, Work Up is Pyroar's best boosting move, primarily for its Special Attack increase. Will-o-Wisp weakens and wears down enemies, whereas Taunt is more threatening to opposing defensive teams. Unfortunately, Pyroar doesn't learn any strong moves for dealing with Rock-types, so it's weak to them both offensively and defensively. Your best bet is to go through the trouble of manipulating IVs to get Hidden Power Grass, which isn't worth the effort in Pyroar's case.

Flabébé, Floette and Florges
Florges is one of the few completely new Fairy-type Pokemon introduced in this generation, and it uses the defensive strengths of its Fairy typing to great effect. One look at Florges's stats should make its function immediately obvious: a bulky supporter capable of sponging powerful special hits with its huge Special Defense, while still having a decent Special Attack for some degree of offensive presence. It has a great moveset to go along with this, with a variety of healing moves and moves that provide direct ally support. While it has a titanic Special Defense, Florges's Defense is really poor, so any decently strong physical attacker can easily take it down. Like all support Pokemon, Florges fears a fast Taunt, since it's dead weight without its support moves. Florges's abilities are also completely useless in single battles, while gimmicky at best in doubles and triples formats.

Florges is most commonly played as a supporter with a large focus on healing. It is one of several Pokemon that learns Wish naturally, and has a decent HP stat for passing Wish heals to allies. Aromatherapy removes status ailments from Florges's whole team, while Synthesis is an instant way to heal itself back up. Reflect and Light Screen can be used to raise its team's defenses temporarily. Moonblast is often Florges's only damaging move, having decent coverage by itself. Psychic is the only usable coverage move for Florges, having the helpful ability to hit Poison-types hard. Calm Mind can be used on more offensive builds to boost Florges's power while increasing its humongous bulk.

Skiddo and Gogoat
As a Grass-type Gogoat does not have any outstanding qualities. Its high HP is nullified by its poor bulk, and for an offensive Pokemon, it has really poor Speed. Gogoat is usually played as a Bulk Up attacker, using the boosting move to improve its Attack and patch up its terrible Defense. Sap Sipper works well with this playstyle, as it can let Gogoat switch into a predicted Grass-type move for a free Attack buff. It has a good movepool with nice type coverage and many ways to prolong its survival as well, which is vital due to Gogoat's poor bulk and Speed. Ultimately, Gogoat's low Speed is its biggest issue, since it is easy to revenge kill and cut its sweep short. While its Grass typing gives it some useful resistances, it also leaves it with weaknesses to Fire, Flying and Ice type attacks, all of which are common on fast attackers.

Bulk Up is a common move for Gogoat, since its power is rather average and its really vulnerable to physical attacks. Horn Leech is Gogoat's STAB move of choice. While it doesn't hit as hard as Leaf Blade, it drains HP from Gogoat's foe, helping it to stay alive. Gogoat has some nice coverage attacks as well. Earthquake and Rock Slide covers a wide range of Pokemon, especially those that either resist Gogoat's Grass moves or can threaten to strike back super effectively. Additionally, Gogoat has the option of sacrificing coverage for added survivability. It can learn both Milk Drink and Synthesis, with Milk Drink's constant recovery being the more reliable healing option unless you can fit Gogoat into a sun team. Gogoat also learns Leech Seed, letting it further leech health for itself in conjunction with Horn Leech. Lastly, Gogoat benefits a lot from Substitute, since it is crippled by status ailments like Burns and Toxic, as well as Taunt and Encore.

Pancham and Pangoro
Pangoro is one of two fully-evolved Pokemon in the game with the type combination of Fighting and Dark, and it has the Attack stat to put this powerful offensive type duo to good use. Dark and Fighting is an incredible STAB combination that covers a wide range of Pokemon, only completely resisted by Fairies and a few other exceptions. Pangoro also has access to three very usable abilities, with Iron Fist to power up certain attacks, Mold Breaker to bypass Sturdy among others, and Scrappy for an easier time against Ghosts. It also has exclusive access to Parting Shot, a move that weakens the opponent offensively while switching Pangoro out, helping allies enter the battle comfortably and giving them more room to set up. Unfortunately, Pangoro has poor bulk and terrible Speed, causing it to struggle against other offensive Pokemon. Its three weaknesses are also common attacking types, with Fairies in particular having an advantage both offensively and defensively.

Superpower is Pangoro's strongest STAB move, dealing huge damage but lowering Attack and Defense. Drain Punch is considerably weaker, but its HP leeching function improves Pangoro's survivability. Knock Off is the most common secondary STAB on Pangoro, having decent power and excellent utility, though Crunch and Payback are usable alternatives. Gunk Shot or Poison Jab is necessary for Fairy-types, Pangoro's biggest weakness, and the choice between them depends on whether power or accuracy is valued. Earthquake and Zen Headbutt are nice coverage moves if Poison-types are a concern, while Stone Edge can strike down Flying-types. Ice Punch has nice coverage that includes Flying and Dragon-types, Fire Punch hits certain Steel-types harder than Superpower, and either move are boosted by Iron Fist. Parting Shot is a great tool for maintaining offensive momentum and helping teammates set up, and Pangoro's poor Speed can come into handy if it manages to sponge a faster attack before switching to an ally. Lastly, Swords Dance powers up Pangoro's Attack to smash through especially bulky Pokemon.

Furfrou
Furfrou is one of the myriad of underwhelming Normal-types that barely see use, existing mainly for the in-game gimmick of changing its cosmetic appearance. While its stats are nothing special, it is the only Pokemon with the ability Fur Coat, which cuts the power of all physical attacks it receives, effectively doubling its otherwise horrendous Defense stat. Coupled with its good Special Defense, this makes Furfrou much more bulky than it first appears, and its Speed is pretty nice as well, being as fast as Garchomp. Due to its good bulk and access to U-turn, Furfrou is most often seen as a pivot, switching in to take hits and tagging to another teammate. One of Furfrou's major flaws is its poor power, having only a middling Attack stat, forcing it to rely more on utility moves to threaten foes than its shallow attacking movepool. Without reliable recovery, Furfrou is also prone to getting worn down by chip damage like entry hazards.

Furfrou's attacking movepool is very limited, with few attacks that actually use its stronger physical Attack stat. Return is the most straightforward option for an STAB move, having nice Base Power at max happiness and no side effects whatsoever. Sucker Punch gives Furfrou priority and is its best option against offensive Ghost-types, while Zen Headbutt can hit Fighting-types hard. U-turn is a great utility attack that works well with Furfrou's bulk and speed, letting it maintain offensive momentum for the team in conjunction with other U-turn and Volt Switch users. For status moves, Toxic and Thunder Wave are Furfrou's best bet at harming bulky Pokemon. Cotton Guard and Work Up are two possible setup moves that don't work too well with U-turn. Cotton Guard is a rare move that raises Furfou's Defense by three stages a turn, though its strong defensive power is undermined by Furfrou's lack of instant recovery. Work Up makes Furfrou's attacking stats a bit better, but takes a long time to boost up.

Espurr and Meostic
Meowstic is a pretty conventional, if not subpar, Psychic-type, boasting nice special stats, surprising Speed and poor physical stats. For the most part, they are outclassed by plenty of other Psychic-types who either hit harder or are more bulky. However, Meowstic does have its own specialty, in that its abilities can vary based on gender. Females are more offensively-oriented, able to use opposing Defog and Intimidate to double their Special Attack with Competitive, though Meowstic's poor strength means the situational Competitive boost is absolutely necessary to even compete with other Psychics. Male Meowstic are slightly more common due to their access to Prankster, which lets them support to team with priority status moves, a role less held back by their poor stats. Overall, they are still very limited in battle, with offensive Meowstic having trouble with special walls and faster Pokemon while support Meowstic being rendered useless by Taunt.

Psychic and Psyshock are the main STAB choices for Meowstic. Psychic provides the most power, while Psyshock hits special walls much harder. Shadow Ball is a useful option to hit fellow Psychic-types as well as Ghost-types. Unfortunately, Meowstic doesn't learn Focus Blast like most Psychics do, so it is very vulnerable to Dark-types outside of Hidden Power Fighting as a weak replacement. Status moves is where Meowstic shine, especially with Prankster. Reflect and Light Screen reduces damage to the whole team, while Toxic and Thunder Wave are good status spreaders. Priority Swagger is a major nuisance, but fairly risky if the opponent breaks through. Heal Bell removes status effects, while Safeguard protects against it altogether. Prankster Meowstic can set and still function in Trick Room well, although Prankster doesn't give Trick Room priority, while Gravity is a great move in doubles to ground Pokemon and synergizes well with teammates' low accuracy attacks. Lastly, priority Trick can be used to deliver items with useless or negative effects to opponents.

Honedge, Doublade and Aegislash
The Honedge family contains one of the top contenders in battle introduced in X/Y, Aegislash. Much of Aegislash's effectiveness stems from its unique Stance Change ability. By default, Aegislash is in its Shield Forme, giving it amazing defenses but poor attacking stats. The moment Aegislash uses a damaging move, it turns into its Blade Forme, swapping its defenses with its offenses to turn it into a deadly glass cannon. It can revert back to its Shield Forme by switching out or using King's Shield, and exclusive move that blocks attacks and even lowers the Attack of a foe that makes contact! This makes Aegislash extremely versatile and unpredictable, able to fill in a variety of roles depending on its moves. Additionally, it has a unique Steel/Ghost typing that gives it 3 immunities and 9 resistances, while leaving it with merely 4 weaknesses. Aegislash still has some minor flaws. It has lackluster Speed, which can be fixed by running a priority move. It is also very fragile during Blade Forme, and is weak to common attacking types like Dark and Ground, so it can still faint easily if used carelessly.

Aegislash is usually used as a purely offensive Pokémon, due to its sky-high attack stats in Blade Forme. Shadow Ball is an almost mandatory move for Aegislash, being its strongest Ghost-type move and hitting a wide range of Pokémon neutrally. King's Shield is another common move on many Aegislash, as it lets Aegislash neutralize an attack, regain the great defenses of its Shield Forme while possibly neutering opposing physical attackers. Flash Cannon is a secondary STAB, its main purpose being to take down Fairy-types. Shadow Sneak is a useful priority Ghost-type attack that circumvents Aegislash's terrible Speed, and can still hit fairly hard without any Attack stat investment due to Blade Forme Aegislash's great base Attack. Sacred Sword can be seen occasionally, and is mainly used for potentially threatening Dark-types or to break through special walls like Blissey. Pursuit is another uncommon move that takes advantage of Aegislash's tendency to force switches. Aegislash also gets Swords Dance, which can make it a powerful foe that can sweep with Shadow Sneak, with Shadow Claw and Iron Head to complement the Attack boost. Finally, Aegislash can run a fairly potent stalling set with Substitute, Toxic and King's Shield, using Substitute and King's Shield to stall turns out and increase Toxic damage. All in all, Aegislash has a ton of moves to choose from, making it one of the most flexible and unpredictable Pokémon to face.

Spritzee and Aromatisse
Aromatisse is a good Fairy-type support Pokemon with decent bulk, but its main selling point over other supporters is its exclusive ability Aroma Veil. This hidden ability lets Aromatisse and all allies on the field to ignore status moves that limit their move choices, the most common ones being Taunt and Encore, giving Aromatisse an immunity against one of the best ways to shut down support Pokemon. It also has a large HP stat for a Wish user, letting it pass on massive Wishes to teammates. Like many Kalos Pokemon, while Aromatisse shines with its unique ability, its stats are fairly underwhelming, having rather average bulk compared to top walls, lackluster power and being a tad more sluggish than Slowbro.

Aromatisse's huge HP stat makes it a good choice for a Wish passer, since it can heal a big chunk of health to any teammate tha switches in. Since its Aromatisse's only way to heal itself other than the three turn Rest, Protect can also be used to guarantee it gets healed. For double and triple battles where switching for Wishes is less common, Aromatisse can use Heal Pulse instead to directly heal adjacent teammates. Aromatherapy complements Wish nicely, letting Aromatisse cure its whole team of status ailments. Aromatisse also makes for a great Trick Room setter due to its extremely low Speed and good bulk. Outside of that, it can set up Reflect and Light Screen to reduce damage, or boost teammates' power with Helping Hand. For attacks, Aromatisse really only needs Moonblast as a nice STAB move, though Dazzling Gleam can be used instead in doubles and triples for its spread property.

Swirlix and Slurpuff
Slurpuff has had a mixed reception due to it's design, being based off a meringue. In battles, it is notable for being one of the few learners of Belly Drum that can put it to good use, being the only Pokemon that gets the combination of Belly Drum and Unburden. When equipped with a Sitrus Berry, Slurpuff can drop right down to exactly half HP, consume its berry to restore some of its lost health and gain a massive boost to its speed, turning it into a fearsome sweeper. Its nice pure Fairy typing and acceptable bulk also help it to set up Belly Drum in the first place. However, Slurpuff is far from unstoppable, as it still has trouble breaking through extremely bulky Poison and Steel types even after a boost, while more offensive teams can simply use superior speed and sheer power to prevent it from using Belly Drum in the first place. Slurpuff is also vulnerable to priority after boosting, since it ignores Unburden's speed boost, and it is especially weak to the fairly common Bullet Punch. One has to choose the right timing to sweep, since Belly Drum's HP cut and Unburden's non-permanent boost means Slurpuff only gets one chance at glory.

As mentioned before, the Belly Drum and Unburden combo is Slurpuff's specialty, so it is a staple on most Slurpuff builds. Combined with a Sitrus Berry, it effectively provides the combined effect of 3 Swords Dances and an Agility boost in a single turn, which makes Slrpuff a devastating powerhouse if it gets the chance to set up. Play Rough is Slurpuff's best STAB move, being the only physical Fairy move in existence. Drain Punch is used for smashing Steel-types that resist Play Rough, and has the added bonus of leeching life, which makes up for the sacrificed HP from Belly Drum. Return hits most Pokemon neutrally, though its only purpose is to target Poison-types, which resist Fairy and Fighting hits. Outside of its limited physical movepool, Slurpuff has a variety of support and special attacking options, but its average stats mean that these roles are better taken by more specialized Pokemon.

Inkay and Malamar
Malamar is one of the very few Pokemon in the game that has access to Contrary, and it can put its ability to really good use with Superpower, which raises both of its physical stats as a result of Contrary. This lets Malamar deal lots of damage while boosting at the same time, which can turn it into a respectable powerhouse with time. Another unique feature is its exclusive access to Topsy-Turvy, which can reverse the efforts of opposing setup sweepers. It also has excellent coverage with its STAB combination in addition to Superpower. Unfortunately, Malamar's typing barely gives it any useful immunities or resistances, but does leave it with a devastating double weakness to Bug. Its poor Speed is lackluster and keeps it from sweeping, while its low Special Defense makes it vulnerable to strong special attackers.

Despite not receiving STAB, Superpower is usually Malamar's best attack choice, since it provides a free Bulk Up boost along with good damage in conjunction with Contrary. Knock Off is Malamar's preferred Dark-type STAB, dealing a good amount of damage, having excellent coverage with Superpower, and having great utility with its property of removing items. Psycho Cut is the less seen Psychic-type STAB, and fully rounds out Malamar's coverage. Rock Slide deals with threatening Bug-types, but still doesn't keep Malamar safe from common Bug moves like U-turn. Rest and Sleep Talk is a common combination on Malamar, letting it heal off status and damage while continuing to boost up. Topsy-Turvy is a situational move that can really mess with enemy setup sweepers, particularly those relying on lengthy Baton Pass chains, but has little use otherwise. Taunt and Destiny Bond are other nice support options, but Malamar doesn't quite have the speed to abuse them.

Binacle and Barbaracle
Barbaracle is yet another take on a familiar Pokemon playstyle: a Rock/Water type sweeper with Shell Smash. However, it does bring its own specialties to the archetype, having Tough Claws to augment the power of its attacks as well as being one of the fastest Shell Smash users available, being barely slower than Cloyster. Its Attack and Special Defense is also quite high for a Shell Smash booster, though its Defense suffers slightly as a result. Nevertheless, Barbaracle is an all-around solid setup sweeper, able to use its incredible power and speed after a boost to wreak havoc. Barbaracle's typing is an issue, as useful resistances to Fire, Ice and Flying is also accompanied by weaknesses to Fighting, Ground, Electric and especially Grass. Like any physical sweeper, Barbaracle also strongly dislikes burns and paralysis, both of which cut down its primary stats for sweeping.

Shell Smash is an amazing boosting move for any Pokemon that learns it, and Barbaracle is certainly no exception. The massive Attack and Speed boost is extremely handy for sweeping, and Barbaracle's decent bulk lets it take a physical hit or two after boosting. Rock Slide and Stone Edge are Barbaracle's Rock-type STAB move, with one having spread, flinching and accuracy while the other having sheer power and a tendency to miss. Razor Shell is its main STAB move in lieu of Waterfall, with the boost from Tough Claws making up for its poor base power. Poison Jab or X-Scissor deals with Grass-types and receive the Tough Claws boost as well.

Skrelp and Dragalge
Dragalge is an odd Pokemon whose most notable feature is its type combination, sporting a unique blend of Poison and Dragon that give it an excellent set of resistances, seven in total. This great defensive typing is complemented by Dragalge's decent bulk, with a high Special Defense stat and moderate Defense. While its offenses are a bit lackluster with 97 base Special Attack, it is one of the few Pokemon that gets Adaptability, giving it deceptive power in its STAB attacks. This also makes it one of the few Dragon types in the game that can tear through Fairies due to a combination of Fairy neutrality and double damage Poison moves. A big flaw with Dragalge is its poor Speed, slowest among all fully-evolved Dragon-types, in fact. While its Poison/Dragon typing gives it a wide range of resistances, it is still vulnerable to Dragon, Ice, Ground and Psychic moves, which are all commonly found as either coverage moves or STAB attacks of popular Pokemon. Offensively, it has trouble breaking through Steel-types, which can take either of Dragalge's STAB moves with ease, forcing it to use significantly weaker coverage moves.

Draco Meteor is a mainstay on all specially offensive Dragon types, and Dragalge is no exception. Few Pokemon can boast about an attack with a frightening effective 260 Base Power after Adaptability. However, since Draco Meteor weakens Dragalge's further attacks after use, more defensive variants can use Dragon Pulse instead for consistent damage, but at a significant loss of power. Sludge Wave is Dragalge's secondary STAB move and is crucial for taking down or simply scaring off any Fairies it faces. For Steel-types, either Focus Blast or Hidden Power Fire can be used, but they have poor accuracy or power respectively. Scald is a nice attack on heavily defensive sets as it can deal damage while having a high chance of burning the foe. For support, Dragalge can lay Toxic Spikes to poison incoming foes. Lastly, Haze or Dragon Tail can be used to remove the boosts of opposing setup sweepers.

Clauncher and Clawitzer
Clawitzer can best be described as a discount Mega Blastoise, given that it has the Mega Launcher ability and the movepool to use it, without forcing you to use up a mega slot. Of course, Clawitzer is quite a bit weaker than Mega Blastoise, but it is still a very hard-hitting Water-type brute. The Mega Launcher ability mentioned before powers up Aura and Pulse moves, and Clawitzer can learn all of them naturally save for the Kyogre-exclusive Origin Pulse. Unlike Blastoise, it also learns Heal Pulse, which heals a huge 75% of the target's max HP when boosted by Mega Launcher. Clawitzer is a Pokemon built around its ability, giving it fearsome power and excellent coverage. Clawitzer's weaknesses are its lackluster defenses and terrible speed, so it is best used to break down slow and bulky enemies.

For its STAB move, Water Pulse is as strong as Surf when boosted by Mega Launcher but with a high chance to confuse the target. Scald is a bit weaker, but it also has the extremely helpful burn chance for crippling enemies it has trouble outright knocking out. Dragon Pulse is the strongest Mega Launcher booster move and is very powerful against Dragons, but Ice Beam is commonly preferred instead for its significantly better coverage. Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse are the last two Mega Launcher enhanced attacks, and both of them gives Clawitzer super effective coverage against a ton of Pokemon. Mega Launcher boosted Heal Pulse is a nice unique feature of Clawitzer, but its relative frailty makes it a poor healer in doubles or triples matches. Clawitzer also has an array of physical moves like the rare Crabhammer, Aqua Jet for priority and U-turn for momentum, but they're rarely seen due to its poor Attack stat, and these moves sacrifice some of Clawitzer's coverage, its most useful strength.

Helioptile and Heliolisk
Heliolisk is a rather odd Pokemon, having a unique type combination of Electric/Normal and three weather-related abilities. Although it may be a generation too late for the abundant weather wars of Gen V, it is still a solid Pokemon on its own due to its good stats and incredible movepool. Heliolisk is a standard Electric-type Pokemon, having both great Speed and Special Attack. Its typing gives it a nice immunity to Ghost, and it can gain an additional immunity to Water with Dry Skin. It also functions well in weather teams, particularly rain teams due to a combination of accurate STAB moves and healing from Dry Skin. Heliolisk's main flaw is its abominable Defense stat, which makes even resisted hits sting coming from physical attackers. Its Fighting and Ground weakness is also problematic due to the prevalence of those attack types.

Thunderbolt is the go-to STAB move for Heliolisk, being a strong and accurate Electric-type move. Volt Switch is also a must-have attack due to its incredible utility, letting Heliolisk maintain its team's offensive momentum by switching to a better teammate for the matchup depending on the opponent's response. For rain abusing sets, Thunder is the way to go as it has perfect accuracy in the rain, and does much more damage than Thunderbolt. Hyper Voice is a nice Normal-type STAB move that hits practically everything that resists Electric neutrally, and has the useful property of striking targets behind Substitutes. Surf and Grass Knot takes down Ground-types that like to switch in to its Electric moves, with Surf being boosted by rain while Grass Knot being stronger against Water/Ground types. Focus Blast destroys Rock, Steel and other Normal-types while Dark Pulse could be used if Psychic or Ghost types are particularly troublesome. Lastly, Glare inflicts paralysis like Thunder Wave, but has the added advantage of being able to affect Ground-types.

Tyrunt and Tyrantrum
Tyrantrum makes its debut as the first fully evolved Rock/Dragon type, but its unique typing is not all that's going for it. Tyrantrum has an incredible Attack stat, though its real strength comes from being the strongest Rock Head Pokemon to learn Head Smash, giving it an extremely powerful attack to crush all that doesn't resist it. It's not too shabby defensively either, having useful resistances like Fire, Flying and Electric, as well as a high Defense stat. Tyrantrum also has a rather nice well-rounded movepool, having adequate coverage options as well as deadly boosting moves. Tyrantrum's main flaw is its lack of Speed, which is a major hindrance for an offensive Pokemon. Its typing also gives it numerous weaknesses such as to Fairy, Fighting and Ground, while its Special Defense is low enough for most unresisted special moves to bring it down.

Head Smash is the biggest reason to choose Tyrantrum over other Rock-types. It has ridiculous power that only gets boosted further by STAB, but most importantly, does not do any recoil damage due to Tyrantrum's Rock Head ability. This move and ability combination effectively gives Tyrantrum a physical nuke without any drawbacks outside of its slightly shaky accuracy. It also has Dragon as a secondary STAB type for added neutral coverage. Outrage can power through teams, though Dragon Claw is a safer option when there are still healthy enemy Fairies and Steel-types. Superpower, Earthquake and Fire Fang provide much-needed coverage against Steel-types, which resist both of Tyrantrum's STAB moves. Lastly, Dragon Dance gives Tyrantrum the opportunity to sweep, while Rock Polish grants a burst of Speed to better take on fast threats.

Amaura and Aurorus
Aurorus has a pretty unique type combination as well as the exclusive Refrigerate ability, which increases the power of Normal-type moves while turning them into Ice-type moves. This gives it interesting options for STAB, with Nature Power and Return being the most common. The former summons a 104 base power Tri Attack in link battles with a chance to inflict status ailments, while the latter at max happiness is the strongest STAB attack it can have that lacks any drawbacks. While terribly impractical, an Ice-type Hyper Beam with a whopping effective 195 base power is a terrifying attack to take, and can be used as a surprising last resort. Rock STAB isn't really needed as Ice already achieves great coverage, other than hitting Fire-types super effectively. Freeze Dry is good against Water-types, while Reflect, Light Screen, Haze, Thunder Wave and Toxic can be good support moves.

Despite being the more defensive of the Kalos fossil Pokémon, Aurorus has possibly the worst defensive typing in the game. Rock and Ice give it a terrible quad weakness to common Steel and Fighting type attacks as well as four other standard weaknesses. Its offensive stats and speed are also quite mediocre, which really prevents it from playing an offensive style. Even with a unique ability and fairly good movepool, Aurorus' poor typing single-handedly prevents it from being usable against common encountered Pokémon.

Hawlucha
With its luchador wrestler design and the exclusive Fighting and Flying type combination, Hawlucha is one of the more impressionable Pokemon introduced in X and Y. While most of its stats are rather mediocre, it has nice Attack and great Speed. However, Hawlucha's claim to fame is its combo of Unburden and Sky Attack. When equipped with a Power Herb, Hawlucha can use a one-turn Sky Attack to deal massive damage, activating Unburden at the same time to let Hawlucha outspeed anything without a boost. Its Fighting/Flying STAB combination grants it amazing type coverage, being able to hit every Pokemon neutrally with the exception Aegislash, Rotom and Electric/Flying types such as Thundurus. Hawlucha's Attack isn't very good, so it's best to start sweeping later in the match, when many of the opposing Pokemon have been weakened sufficiently.

As mentioned before, Sky Attack and the Power Herb item is Hawlucha's standard combo. This combination effectively gives Hawlucha a single-turn 140 Base Power STAB move that also increases its Speed. However, it can only be used once per battle, as the attack is very unwieldy without the Power Herb. Acrobatics also works incredible well in conjunction with Unburden, being a powerful Flying move itself once Hawlucha has consumed its item. High Jump Kick is Hawlucha's Fighting-type STAB of choice, hitting very hard but with the small chance of terrible recoil if it misses. Stone Edge is a good coverage move for hitting Flying-types and Bug-types. Hawlucha can also use a combination of Substitute and Sitrus Berry instead to activate Unburden safely, since it is both frail and crippled majorly by status. Hawlucha can learn Swords Dance to improve its middling Attack, which is more successfully pulled off when using Substitute. Alternatively, Hone Claws both increases its attack and makes Sky Attack and High Jump Kick more likely to hit, so it's better for the all-out attacker.

Goomy, Sliggoo and Goodra
Goomy,Sliggoo, and to a lesser extent, Goodra, are some of the strangest Dragon-Types introduced. But don't be fooled by it's looks, Goodra is actually a Pseudo-Legendary! It has a great ability in Gooey, and this makes Goodra capable of moving before Pokemon like Pyroar, who have far better Speed than it. It can function as a Specially Defensive Pokemon due to it's great Sp.Def and can hit hard with it's high Attack.Dragon Tail switches out threats whilst doing a lot of damage due to it being Physical and Dragon Claw can be quite powerful, with no downsides, and, once there are no Fairies left on opponent's team, you can deal an incredible amount of damage.

Klefki
Being basically a living keychain, Klefki is certainly an oddity, and its stats are pretty unimpressive compared to its appearance. However, this key collector is notorious for being one of the most effective status-inducers in the game, mainly due to its ability Prankster, letting it use status moves first regardless of speed. It also has an above average Defense, letting it fare better against its main target, physical attackers, while its Steel/Fairy typing gives it a ton of helpful resistances, including an immunity to Dragon, while leaving it with only a Fire and Ground weakness. Klefki also has a great movepool full of support moves that take advantage of Prankster, but the primary ones are Swagger and Thunder Wave, both taught via TM. This lets Klefki pull off an effective parafusion strategy that can nearly shut down most physical attackers, turning their sheer power against themselves due to Swagger's Attack boost. Additionally, it learns Foul Play at level 27, which circumvents its average attack stats to hit Swaggered foes hard. With just these three moves, it can cripple its opponent, then knock them out with a strong Foul Play. Teach it Substitute, and it can Foul Play in safety as its opponents knock themselves out.

Outside of its most common parafusion strategy, Klefki has plenty of other status moves it can try out. It can set down Spikes, use Torment against move-locked opponents or set up Reflect and Light Screen. In doubles or triple battles, it also provides useful support with Safeguard, Magic Room, Fairy Lock or Crafty Shield. Fairy Lock and Crafty Shield in particular are two moves exclusive to Klefki. Fairy Lock is basically a single-turn Mean Look that affects every Pokémon in battle. Crafty Shield protects Klefki and its allies from status moves in a manner similar to Quick Guard and Wide Guard, though Prankster makes Safeguard a superior move despite Crafty Shield's own extra priority. In terms of attacks, Klefki doesn't have a lot of options, with Play Rough, Draining Kiss and Dazzling Gleam for Fairy STAB and Flash Cannon for Steel STAB. However, its poor attacking stats mean you're better off using Foul Play to do direct damage.

Bergmite and Avalugg
If you had a look at Avalugg's stats, you'd doubt that it was an Ice-Type.Avalugg has an insanely high Defense, the highest of all Ice Pokemon, but at the cost of low Sp.Def and Speed.

Avalugg serves as an incredible Physical Wall, with a reliable recovery in Ice Body and Hail, as well as Recover. If you want,you can use it's terrible speed as an advantage with Gyro Ball, and whittle down attackers health with Hail and use Recover.

Xerneas
Xerneas is the first Fairy-type legendary in the series, and has already made its mark as one of the most threatening Pokemon in the game, even when compared to other powerful legendaries. While its stats are rather tame compared to some of the legendaries in the past, it secures its place as a top threat with one move: Geomancy. This incredible status move doubles Xerneas's Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed, but needs a turn of recovery after using. However, unlike similar moves like Hyper Beam, Geomancy's effects stay as long as Xerneas remains on the field, so it is worthwhile to use up an item slot for a Power Herb, which lets it use Geomancy once a match without having to recharge. Xerneas only needs one use of Geomancy to become a nearly unstoppable threat, having incredible power and speed, while also being very specially bulky for a sweeper. In any format where Xerneas is allowed, this is the move every team has to account for, and makes Xerneas implicitly threatening to the opposing team even if it isn't running a Geomancy set.

Xerneas didn't earn its notoriety with just Geomancy. Its Fairy typing gives it useful resistances and uncommon weaknesses, while giving well-rounded coverage in its STAB moves. Moonblast is Xerneas's strongest STAB option, while Dazzling Gleam is useful in doubles for damaging both Pokemon on the enemy team. These Fairy moves are enhanced by its ability, Fairy Aura, which passively strengthens Fairy-type attacks while it is present. It also learns a slew of coverage moves, though they usually have some unfortunate drawbacks. Focus Blast deals with Steel-types but has shaky accuracy, Hidden Power Ground takes on Primal Groudon, another common legendary powerhouse, but has poor base power. Grass Knot is a powerful move against other legendaries as most of them weigh a lot, while Thunder is a situational option if Kyogre is a specific threat to your team. Xerneas is also quite versatile, able to use a variety of different sets other than Geomancy, such as holding Choice items, Calm Mind boosting or just a plain all-out attacker. It also gets Aromatherapy to heal off status, useful for more balanced or defensive sets. All in all, Xerneas is a supremely versatile Pokemon, undoubtedly one of the best Pokemon of this generation.

Being such a powerful and popular Pokemon, many ways have been devised to deal with it. Typing-wise, Steel-types like Ferrothorn or Aegislash can take boosted Moonblasts, while hitting back super effectively at Xerneas's lower and unboosted Defense stat. Fire-types are also strong answers to Xerneas, with Primal Groudon being the most common due to generally being an incredible good Pokemon itself. For Poison-types, Amoonguss resists Fairy and can Spore Xerneas to incapacitate it, while Mega Gengar traps and gets rid of it. It is also a good idea to have support moves specifically to stop Geomancy. Fake Out is omnipresent in doubles and can buy time for teammates to weaken Xerneas. A fast Taunt shuts down Geomancy before it happens, while Encore, Haze or Whirlwind wastes its Geomancy after it has already used it. Finally, speed control can restrict Xerneas's sweeping potential, with common means being Thunder Wave or Tailwind depending on the format. Priority moves are also great for finishing off an injured Xerneas, with Bullet Punch users being particularly helpful.

Yveltal
Yveltal has the exact same stats as Xerneas, but while it is nowhere nearly as game-changing, it is still a solid mascot legendary with an excellent uncommon typing. While Yveltal's offenses can't match other legendary behemoths, it has good coverage from its STAB moves, particularly Dark-type moves that are boosted by Dark Aura. It also has a unique base 99 Speed, a tad higher than base 90 or 95 Speed of most mascot legendaries from previous generations. With a high HP stat and decent bulk, it can be a surprisingly tough Pokemon especially when considering its signature attack Oblivion Wing, which leeches 75% of the damage dealt on its target. In combination with a nice selection of utility moves, Yveltal makes for a solid, versatile addition to a team both on offense or defense. Yveltal's weaknesses mainly comes from its typing, which makes it weak to Rock, Ice, Electric and most notably Fairy attacks, problematic considering its generational counterpart's popularity.

Yveltal has a wealth of Dark-type STAB to choose from. The most commonly run move is Dark Pulse, being a consistent, high damage move and using the same attack stat as Yveltal's other preferred STAB, Oblivion Wind. The moderate flinch chance is a boon as well. Foul Play is often found on more defensive sets to deal heavy damage against the variety of physical powerhouses within the realm of legendaries. Yveltal's Sucker Punch has the honor of being the strongest priority attack in the game, helping Yveltal take on faster threats and finish off weakened foes. Knock Off is sometimes found on more focused sets for its excellent utility. Finally, Snarl is occasionally used to weaken other specially offensive threats, but has low power. Another staple of Yveltal's moveset is Oblivion Wing, an excellent Flying-type move that is both strong and drains more health than other life leeching moves in the game, sustaining Yveltal while denting the enemy. U-turn is another notable move that lets Yveltal maintain the team's offensive momentum. For utility moves, Roost is excellent for defensive sets in conjunction with Oblivion Wing. Taunt can shut down opposing supports, while Tailwind gives Yveltal's team a speed advantage.

Zygarde
Zygarde is similar to Kyurem from the last generation, in that it completes a legendary trio but is initially weaker than the other two members of its trio, in this case Xerneas and Yveltal. Unlike Kyurem, Zygarde's big buff never came in this generation, so it is stuck in the unfortunate position of being a restricted Pokemon with the same base stat total as Garchomp. Compared to its fellow Dragon/Ground Garchomp, Zygarde's power is lackluster with an unimpressive base 100 Attack, and it has an awkward Speed. However, it is better at utilizing its incredible defensive typing with a high Defense stat, while packing some rare moves like Coil, Glare and Extreme Speed. Zygarde's main weakness is that it requires a boost or two to really make an impact, while the lack of a healing move outside of Rest undermines its more defensive focus. Zygarde's Aura Break is also a waste, since it only works against Xerneas and Yveltal, both of which it has a disadvantage against stat-wise and typing-wise.

Earthquake is Zygarde's main STAB move, having a combination of great coverage and high power. Land's Wrath is Zygarde's signature attack, being a weaker Earthquake that doesn't hit adjacent allies, a useful trait in doubles and triples. For Dragon STAB, Zygarde's best options are Outrage and Dragon Tail, but unfortunately lacks Dragon Claw. This means that it must either commit to Outrage, a risky prospect when Fairy-types are on the enemy team, or rely on the weak, negative priority Dragon Tail, although the latter is a good fit on defensively-focused sets to shuffle enemies in and out. Stone Edge has great synergy with Earthquake, but suffers from accuracy issues. Extreme Speed is a reliable priority attack, which can be quite helpful given Zygarde's middling Speed. Zygarde has a choice of two boosting moves, Coil and Dragon Dance. Coil suits more defensive sets due to boosting defense while Dragon Dance is the better option for offense as it boosts Speed. Substitute can give Zygarde some protection while it is boosting up. Rest is Zygarde's only form of recovery, a necessity for heavily defensive movesets. Lastly, Zygarde is one of the few Pokemon with access to Glare, which lets it inflict paralysis like Thunder Wave, but with the added feature of affecting Ground-types as well.

Diancie
With a Rock/Fairy typing and incredible defensive stats, Diancie is essentially a better Carbink, able to sponge a variety of attacks due to its good defensive typing and bulk, while having the power to hit back hard. However, its terrible Speed and weaknesses to common Ground, Water and most severely, Steel-type attacks slightly undermines its bulk and keeps it from being a strong offensive threat. Fortunately, Diancie is the only mythical Pokemon that gets a Mega Evolution, turning it into a top offensive threat with great Speed, deadly attack stats and the coveted Magic Bounce ability, letting Diancie block status and hazards with its mere presence. It has stellar coverage to take advantage of this newfound power, as well as boosting moves to increase its offensive prowess even more. However, Diancie is still very slow on the turn it evolves, so it is often forced to use Protect to safely enter its mega state. Mega Diancie's reduced bulk also makes it more vulnerable to its common weaknesses, with Bullet Punch in particular being a common priority attack that ignores its Speed.

Diancie's signature move is Diamond Storm, an excellent physical Rock STAB with all the power of Stone Edge and none of its accuracy issues, while having an additional chance to raise Diancie's Defense. Moonblast is Diancie's Fairy STAB, hitting the enemy specially instead. Oddly, while Diancie has capable mixed attacking stats, due to the lack of Play Rough or Power Gem, it cannot run a purely physical or special set with its STAB combination alone. Earth Power deals with Steel-types that resist either of Diancie's attacks, while Hidden Power Fire is also an option to strike some Steels like Scizor or Ferrothorn harder. Explosion is an uncommon sacrificial attack, mostly seen on support regular Diancie builds to deal heavy damage once Diancie has performed its role. Protect is a common move for Diancitite holders to enable it to Mega Evolve safely. Rock Polish is a nice boosting move that doubles Diancie's speed for a sweep, while Calm Mind provides smaller boosts to both offense and bulk. Trick Room is another nice setup move employed by regular Diancie, using its poor Speed to great advantage. Diancie can also provide entry hazard support with Stealth Rock, or cure status ailments with Heal Bell.

Hoopa
Hoopa is an interesting special attacker with massive Special Attack, nice special bulk and a unique Psychic/Ghost typing. Unfortunately, it suffers from poor Speed, paper thin physical Defense, and two double weaknesses to Dark and Ghost, two of the most prevalent attacking types in the game. However, the real nail in Hoopa's coffin is the existence of its Unbound Forme, which has a better typing and better stats all around, making Hoopa Confined outclassed in just about any scenario. Hoopa Unbound is a powerful threat, with both of its offensive stats rivalling Mega Rayquaza's, excellent offensive type coverage and respectable Special Defense. Unfortunately, Hoopa Unbound still shares some flaws of its Confined self, having poor Speed for an offensive Pokemon and terrible Defense, making it easily defeated by other physical attackers. Its typing also gives it a double weakness to Bug, a major issue due to the popularity of U-Turn as a utility move.

Hoopa has two interesting signature moves: Hyperspace Hole and Hyperspace Fury. Hyperspace Hole is rather uncommon due to being a Psychic-type move weaker than Psychic, though its ability to hit through Protect and its variants can be situationally useful. Hyperspace Fury has the same Protect-breaking properties with more power while lowering Hoopa Unbound's Defense. It is also uncommon, but more because it's a physical move while Hoopa Unbound usually prefers investing purely into Special Attack to maximize its power. For Hoopa Confined, Shadow Ball is its main STAB with nice neutral coverage, while Dark Pulse is Hoopa Unbound's preferred STAB move. Psyshock is a great secondary STAB due to its ability to hit the foe's Defense stat with Hoopa's higher Special Attack. Focus Blast provides perfect neutral coverage. Physically, Hoopa Unbound has the aforementioned Hyperspace Fury, while Drain Punch keeps its health up and Gunk Shot destroys Fairies. Nasty Plot can boost Hoopa's power to obscene heights, while Trick Room is another setup move due to Hoopa Confined's lackluster speed. Trick and Taunt are good utility moves for shutting down defensive and utility Pokemon.