UU Spotlight: Entei

Entei's history

Entei was introduced as a legendary dog in Pokémon Gold and Silver. While it boasted some great stats such as its base 115 HP and Attack, it still failed to be what it was hyped up to be and fell into the depths of the lowest tiers for a long time. Despite it being a legendary Pokémon with great stats, Entei's shallow movepool restricted it from shining in past generations. More specifically, pre-physical / special split, Entei was at a huge disadvantage, as its stats geared it more towards being a physical powerhouse, but all Fire-type moves were special.

In Generation 2, Entei simply failed to live up to the hype of being a legendary Pokémon. Although it was a very bulky Fire-type and the only one in the tier with such huge bulk, Entei saw and still sees virtually no usage due to its poor movepool, bad typing, and unfortunate stat distribution.

Generation 3 gave Entei a small chance of hope, but again, it failed to shine in comparison to all the new tools introduced into the OU tier. Although Calm Mind was introduced in Generation 3, Entei was not a good user of it compared to other Pokémon such as Suicune and Jirachi. Granted, it did have 101 HP Substitutes, which allowed it to retain its Substitute on moves such as Blissey's Seismic Toss, but Entei's movepool and typing plagued it again. As a Fire-type itself, Entei could never make use of its good stats, and with Pokémon such as Houndoom and Blaziken being solid Fire-types, Entei was mostly overlooked.

Generation 4 gave Entei new life. This generation was the start of the rise in Entei's popularity, bringing it up to what it has become in the present. With the physical / special split, Entei could now excel at what it does best: smashing holes with its sky-high Attack stat. As a result of the tenth Pokémon movie event, its movepool got a huge boost in viability. With new tools in Flare Blitz and Extreme Speed in its arsenal, Entei made its way into the UU tier, where it found a niche as a very viable SubCM user. Entei's access to Stone Edge also differentiated it from other similar Pokémon such as Arcanine.

Generation 5 introduced the RU tier, a perfect home for Entei. Overshadowed by rivals such as Arcanine and Victini in UU, Entei could now shine in RU. While it did face serious competition from other offensive Fire-types such as Emboar, which had a far superior movepool with moves like Superpower and Wild Charge and a typing that made it take less damage from Stealth Rock, Entei managed to differentiate itself with its superior Speed, its access to Extreme Speed, and its ability to run a SubCM set that could scare out common switch-ins such as Kabutops and Poliwrath. At this point, nothing appeared to make Entei an bigger threat, until Generation 6.

Generation 6 gave Entei a godsend: Sacred Fire. Although this move is weaker than Flare Blitz, Sacred Fire gave Entei the ability to pressure what it needed. Certain Pokémon such as Swampert, which would otherwise have no trouble dealing with Entei, could not be reliable checks anymore due to fearing the 50% chance to burn. Entei was finally a true powerhouse capable of breaking down even ostensibly prepared teams, and it found its home right where it is now: UU.

Entei's qualities

With great natural bulk and a considerable Attack stat, Entei finds itself hitting extremely hard against a massive portion of the metagame, and it is only truly countered by a handful of bulky Water-types. While Fire is a mediocre typing defensively, it gives Entei a huge boost in offensive presence. The trouble of its numerous common weaknesses is mitigated by Entei's base 115 HP and decent defensive stats, which give it a good amount of bulk. This makes Entei a good fit on bulky offense and balance teams. While Entei can only fill one role, it makes up for its predictability with sheer force. Furthermore, having only one set and usually spamming one move means that its switch-ins can be very easily predicted, allowing you to double switch fairly easily and gain the upper hand. It can cripple and even scare off Pokémon that would typically check it with Sacred Fire, and it has access to solid priority to make up for its lackluster Speed. All of these factors make Entei one of the best wallbreakers in the tier.

Playing with Entei

Choice Band

Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge
- Extreme Speed

Entei's flagship set, Choice Band. With a Choice Band, Entei becomes a devastating wallbreaker that any Pokémon fears switching into. Unlike other Pokémon, Entei doesn't mind being locked into one move because it has such a spammable attack in Sacred Fire, which carries a huge risk for anything wanting to switch in, and a very strong secondary STAB attack in Flare Blitz, which hits incredibly hard. Entei also has the natural bulk to be able to take hits in exchange for dishing out ridiculous damage. While Entei is in the clustered base 100 Speed tier, it can't take advantage of it, as the Pokémon movie event, the only way to get an Entei with Extreme Speed and Flare Blitz legally in-game, made sure that Entei had to be Adamant natured, making its Speed much less fleeting. However, Entei's Extreme Speed is a strong priority move that shores up this middling Speed tier and makes Entei extremely dangerous against offensive teams; Entei's Speed is also more than capable of letting it wallbreak effectively, just barely outpacing the crucial base 85 Speed tier. While Entei provides all of this power, it also supplies utility in burning things that would otherwise be troublesome. Sacred Fire has a 50% chance to burn, which is huge, and absolutely nothing wants to be burned. Furthermore, things that would normally be able to switch into Entei such as Mega Blastoise are much more shaky due to them not appreciating the burn and also being worn down very easily. Entei's checks are on a timer, as Sacred Fire burns eventually wear them down. Stone Edge provides coverage for hitting Arcanine, and Chandelure among a handful of Pokémon that Entei has trouble with hitting with its STAB and priority. While being the only Entei set, this certainly packs a punch and should not be taken lightly.

Other options

While Entei hasn't got much else going for it, you can run Flame Plate, which bluffs Choice Band. This gives you more freedom on moves, meaning less pressure with PP, and allows Entei to lure and KO Pokémon such as Chandelure with a Stone Edge, easing prediction. Another option is Liechi Berry. With a Liechi Berry and Natural Gift, Entei gains a 100 Base Power Grass-type move, which hits bulky Water-types super effectively. However, both of these options have Entei losing a ton of power, making Entei a lot less threatening than if it used a Choice Band.

Playing against Entei

Bulky Water-types are the best way to handle Entei. These Pokémon resist Entei's STAB attacks, take minimal damage from its coverage moves, and can dish out more damage with their super effective moves. However, this applies more towards Water-types with access to a form of reliable recovery such as Slowking, as these don't get worn down as easily. Swampert also detests getting burned, as that makes Entei harder to check and weakens its Earthquake.

Mega Ampharos's Dragon typing and great physical bulk allow it to check Entei very reliably; however, this mostly applies to the RestTalk defensive set, as the offensive one is worn down very easily and doesn't take hits as well as the defensive set. While it is limited to RestTalk to heal, Mega Ampharos takes a negligible amount of damage from Entei's attacks and can retaliate with a much harder hit.

Snorlax is a little more shaky than the others above due to it hating Sacred Fire's burn chance, especially on the offensive sets. However, Curse Snorlax is a reliable set for checking Entei, because people normally invest a lot of Defense EVs to balance out its defenses, which, in conjunction with Thick Fat, makes Sacred Fire do pitiful damage to Snorlax. Although other Snorlax sets don't like the burn, CurseLax does not mind, as it can easily Rest it off, and its superb bulk and Defense boosts from Curse ensure that it will not lose 1v1.

Aerodactyl resists Entei's priority move, making it a very suitable revenge killer for Entei. Krookodile can also come in with Intimidate to soften its attacks and proceed to revenge kill it. Although anything faster and with super effective attacks will do for revenge killing Entei, these two Pokémon are the most reliable, but they hate getting burned, so switching them in is less than optimal.

Fitting Entei onto a team

Fitting in classic Fire / Water / Grass cores and being able to break stall, Entei is a top contender for many spots on balance teams. With the Sacred Fire burn chance, Entei helps to break down walls and break apart cores such as bulky Sylveon ones. With access to Extreme Speed as well, Entei is able to be very useful against offense, making it a strong wallbreaker that is very versatile. Entei also fits very well on bulky offense due to its great natural bulk, allowing it to work as a viable pivot, although its Stealth Rock weakness makes this less useful.

Entei works great at breaking down walls for Pokémon to be able to sweep. Pokémon that appreciate weakened foes such as Sharpedo love this; Entei's strong attacks and burns from Sacred Fire make it quite easy to set up a late-game sweep for it. On the other hand, Entei appreciates things that are able to handle bulky Water-types. These include Pokémon such as Shaymin, Roserade, Heliolisk, Toxicroak, and many more. Lastly, Pokémon that like having Fairy-types taken care of, such as Hydreigon, appreciate Entei's ability to 2HKO every Fairy-type in the tier.

Get out there!

Now that you know how powerful Entei is, give it a go! Entei is a Pokémon that must not be tossed to the side when building your teams. It will most surely bring you positive results, and it's an exceptionally powerful Pokémon that is sure to get work done. Good luck!

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