Generation VIII’s starter Pokémon are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:as lovable as ever, but they’re also unique in a number of ways. For one thing, they’re🤡 the first trio to retain their pure Fire, Water and Grass typings since Generation II’s Cyndaquil, Totodile and Chikorita. For another, they have interesting Hidden Abilities which give them each a chance to rock an𝓀 interesting set.
The all-powerful Cinderace and Rillaboom are tearing up the competitive scene just now (though they’re both about to be banned alongside other super popular picks as of VGC Series 6), but which movesets suit them best? Here’s a possible set for each of the six evolutions of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon Sword & Shield’s starters.
6 Drizzile: Light Screen, ▨Reflect, Surf, Rain Dance
Of the three stage one evolutions of the Galar starters, Drizzile would have to be the hardest to craft a set for. As an offensive pure Water-type, it’s sorely lacking in coverage, not even gettingꦉ the super standard Ice Beam that Inteleon does. Nor does it have that nice exclusive move Snipe Shot to make use of Inteleon’s crit-tastic Hidden Ability Sniper (more on that later).
Still, let’s not get into what it can’t do. If a player is truly committed to trying to make Drizzile work, its major assets are its Special Attack and Speed (at base 95 and base 90 respectively, they’re quite high considering). Its HP and defenses are very low, so an Eviolite could be an option, but it’s definitely still nowhere close to tanky. What we may be looking at, then, is a set similar to a classic Serperior 🔥one.
Drizzile has both Light Screen and Reflect in its movepool, and decent enough Speed to try and set them up. If a team wants a rain option, Rain Dance could also be workable, while Surf is probably the best STAB it can muster. Th﷽e Light Clay route could be an option to extend the amount of tꦆurns the screens last.
Drizzile has other tricky options like Soak (to change an opponent to Water-type), but it’s toꦜugh enough to find an effective way🍸 to run it as it is without going any further into situational ter🉐ritory.
5 🔥 Raboot: Sucker Punch, Flare Blitz, High Jump Kick, Bounce
The Scorbunny line isn’t particularly impressive stats-wise, boasting nice Speed and Attack but falling short to the Sobble line in the🐭 ⭕speed stakes and boast🍰ing solid but unexceptional power. Suddenly, along came its Hidden Ability, which immediately made Cinderace a superstar.
The Libero Ability gives this evolution line STAB on every attack (it’s🉐 a renamed Protean), which is incredibly good. Raboot may take a hit in both speed and power compared to Cinderace, but it’s capable of causing comparable carnage all the same. With a set like this, Raboot can use its great coverage and high base power moves to put severe dents in the opposing team. A Dynamax Raboot would get a lot of mileage from Bounce, which turns into Max Airstream and gives it a +1 in Speed (and to its allies 🍃too, if you’re playing doubles).
By the same token, High Jump Kick becomes Max Knuckle, which gives an Attack boost instead. Yes, Cinderace is much better equipped for this, but don’t undꦆerestimate a Raboot with an offensive item in the same role. Super Fang is also an option, to halve the HP of an opponent that Raboot otherwise can’t really deal with.
4 Thwackey: Grassy Glide,🍨 Drain Punch, Knock Off, Swords Dance
Naturally, Thwackey is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:largely forgotten in favor of Grookey’s second evolution, Rillaboom. That’s just the way of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon world. Nevertheless, it’s po✃ssible to craft and interesting set for the little drummer wannabe if you🌳’re committed to using NFE (not fully evolved) Pokémon.
What can Thackey do that its bigger, stronger, furrier counterpart can’t? Utilize Eviolite, that’s what. This item boosts a Pokémon’s Defense and Special Defense if they can still evolve, potentially making them incredibly tanky. The item is the key to Porygon 2’s face✱tank absolutely everything ever success, among other critters, and Thwackey can use it quite effectively too.
As far as a moveset goes, it doesn’t have a huge amount to work with, but its base 85 Attack will serve it well if it manages to get off a Swords Dance. From there, Drain Punch will be a huge help when it comes to recovery, while Grassy Glide (courtesy of the new 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Isle of Armor Move Tutor in the Master Dojo) will give it some prioജ🅘rity in tandem with its Grassy Surge Ability (which will also lend it some turn-by-turn healing.
3 🔯 Cinderace: Pyro Ball, Bounce, High Jump Kick, Gunk Shot🐭
If you thought Raboot was terrifying (which you didn’t, but it can be), you haven’t seen anything yet. Make way for Cinderace, the Pokémon that rose from largely unheard of to an absolute stalwart of the metag♔ame.
As with Raboot, Cinderace’s gameplan is a simple one: deal as much damage as possible. Being very frail, it won’t stick around for long ifℱ opponents get the chance to retaliate,𒁃 but if Cinderace has the speed advantage on its side, Libero means that they often won’t.
This set is very open to customization, depending on the coverage your team needs. Sucker Punch is a very popular pick here too, for instance. It even learns the interesting (and exclusive) status move Court Change, which swaps the condition of the battlefield on both players’ sides (if the opponent has set Stealth Rock on your side, say, it’ll𓆉 be switched to theirs). Libero Cinderace, however, mostly just wants to deal damage. Its Gigantamax form is utterly devastating with a combination of Max Airstream (again, for the speed) and G-Max Fireball.
2 ও Inteleon: Snꦅipe Shot, Ice Beam, Dark Pulse, Focus Energy
Of the three starter Pokémon of Galar, it’s clear that Sobble got a bit of a raw deal when it comes to Hidden Abilities. Next to Libero and Grassy Surge, Sn✃iper is more than a little underwhelming. A boost to the damage dealt by critical hits (from the normal 1.5x to 2.25x) is nice, but Inteleon has to really work for it.
Let’s give it a set that has a chance to do so, then. While holding the Scope Lens, a use of Focus Energy will guarantee that each hit landed will be a crit. This is very, very nice against foes boosting their defenses, as critical hits bypass this entirely. Inteleon, with the second-highest Special Attack of any starteꦡr in the series (losing out to Primarina by a single base stat point, 125 to 126), can deal out tremendous damage with this setup.
Its coverage is limited and it may not got the chance to set up Focus Energy with its fragility, but in the rig💝ht circu𝓀mstances, it can perform very well. Gigantamax Inteleon with G-Max Hydrosnipe is a real powerhouse.
1 Rill🎃aboom: Grassy Glide, High Horsepower, Knock Off, Wood Hammer
Rillaboom, the third and final fully-evolved member of the Galar trio, has proven just as popular as Cinderace of late. In fact, they often appear together in teams, a combination some fans have dubbed CinderBoom (again, both are to be banned alongside other𝐆 top-usage picks like Tyranitar and Dragaಞpult in Series 6 of the in-game ranked ladder).
What does Rillaboom bring to the table? Attack that matches Inteleon’s Special Attack, for one thing, along with Grassy Surge and Grassy Glide. Terrain-boosted priority isꩵ a heck of a thing to face, so it appears front and centre on any competitive Rillaboom moveset. From there, its coverage is a little limited, but High Horsepower (which doesn’t suffer from the damage-halving effect in Grassy Terrain, unlike Earthquake) is a solid choice, as is Knock Off for its power and general utility.
Finally, Grassy Glide’𒁏s base power is only 70, so sometimes the raw power of Wood Ham🍌mer is called for. Other great options include its signature move Drum Beating (for G-Max Drum Solo), Fake Out (for doubles) and Superpower.