Meloetta-P (B/W) - Smogon University

B/W
Strategy
Moves

Serene Grace: This Pokemon's secondary effect chances are doubled.

Type	Tier
Normal / Fighting	UU

Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
		Min-	Min	Max	Max+
HP	100	-	341	404	-
Atk	128	262	292	355	390
Def	90	194	216	279	306
SpA	77	171	190	253	278
SpD	77	171	190	253	278
Spe	128	262	292	355	390

Underused
Overused

Overview

Facing a Meloetta is like biting into a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean—you will never know what exactly it could do. Indeed, out of the new additions to grace Pokemon, Meloetta is arguably the most interesting of them all, albeit the most overlooked. What makes her so unique is the ability to change between two formes that have almost opposite counters, and in the hands of a skilled player, this can cause huge problems for their opponents. One thing that does frustrate a lot of players is that fact that Meloetta cannot start in Pirouette forme immediately, which is arguably her more threatening forme. However, her Aria forme is far from useless, and can easily function as either an offensive or defensive Pokemon, depending on whatever you need. Her lack of physical bulk and relatively low Speed might make the other Psychic-types of OU more attractive, so always remember to play to Meloetta's strengths. In short, we might not be able to grasp the full extent of Meloetta's abilities for some time to come, but there is one thing we do know, and that is that she can be devastating in the right hands.

Name	Item	Nature
Relic Mixed	Life Orb / Expert Belt	Naive

Moveset	EVs
~ Relic Song ~ Close Combat ~ Thunder / Thunderbolt ~ Psychic / Hidden Power Ice	56 Atk / 252 SpA / 200 Spe

The purpose of this set is to fully exploit Meloetta's forme-changing abilities. The idea is to, with prediction, stay a step ahead of your opponent by continuously switching between Aria and Pirouette formes. It is especially convenient when a forme's counter is weak to the other forme, which means if Meloetta stays in the advantageous forme, she will retain offensive momentum in a similar way to VoltTurn cores. For example, Skarmory switches out of Aria forme as it fears Thunder, but as your opponent switches in Blissey, Meloetta uses Relic Song to transform into her Pirouette forme, and Blissey has to switch out again in fear of Close Combat. With entry hazard support, this can force a lot of switches and cause a lot of damage very quickly.

Relic Song is obviously the integral part of this set, as it facilitates the forme-changing that is unique to Meloetta. It is a decently powerful STAB move backed by base 128 Special Attack, while having a 20% chance to put an opponent to sleep, which is always helpful. Close Combat is Meloetta's main STAB attack while in Pirouette forme. Thunder is preferred in the third slot since firstly, rain is extremely common, while secondly, its power can help Meloetta get some crucial KOs, such as on Tornadus-T while in Pirouette forme. It also lands 2HKOs on Jellicent and Sableye while in Aria forme, two Pokemon that block Relic Song. Its 60% paralysis rate (due to Serene Grace) is also a huge bonus to have, letting you give Jirachi that try to counter you a dose of its own medicine. However, if you prefer reliability, then Thunderbolt is a perfectly legitimate option. The last move is a toss-up. With a Life Orb equipped, Psychic is a powerful STAB move to hit many physically defensive Pokemon hard, while Hidden Power Ice lets Meloetta nail Gliscor and Dragon-types.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>

The EVs given allow Meloetta to outspeed Adamant Landorus-T in Aria forme, while outspeeding Tornadus-T in Pirouette forme. Max Special Attack is used as the majority of the time will be spent in Aria forme. The rest go into Attack to power up Close Combat. A Naive nature is generally preferred over Hasty due to most priority attacks being physical, therefore it's more acceptable to lower Special Defense rather than Defense. With Aria forme's huge base 128 Special Defense, Meloetta is generally not in short supply of Special Defense anyway.

The held item is quite a tough choice. Life Orb is preferred because of the sheer power that it brings. However, as Meloetta is all about keeping offensive momentum, it is nice if she doesn't take recoil damage so she can keep that momentum for as long as possible, hence Expert Belt being a decent alternative, especially if you are running Hidden Power Ice. As for other moves, U-turn can be used in the last slot, especially if you're using Meloetta on a VoltTurn team. It is also Meloetta's best way of hurting Latias and Celebi, both of which take little damage from any of Meloetta's other attacks.

The most important thing to remember when using this set is to use both of Meloetta's formes. One common misconception is to send Meloetta out, get to Pirouette forme straight away, and start spamming Close Combat, when instead most of the time Meloetta will be attacking in Aria forme. It is usually better to use Thunder when you send in Meloetta as it 2HKOes Sableye and Jellicent trying to block Relic Song and it hits about just about everything that doesn't resist it reasonably hard, while threatening a 60% chance of paralysis.

Teammates that fit well with Meloetta are generally entry hazard users and physically defensive Pokemon. As Meloetta is forcing a lot of switches by changing formes, Pokemon that can set up Spikes are an excellent assets with Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress all being good choices. It follows that spinblockers are good teammates for Meloetta. Gengar is probably the best offensive spinblocker to use alongside Meloetta, although Sableye and Jellicent are still good choices. Some more obscure yet effective spinblockers also include Froslass, which can set up Spikes while blocking Rapid Spin at the same time, and Choice Scarf Rotom, which can use Volt Switch while blocking Rapid Spin. On the other hand, Toxic Spikes cut down on Meloetta's effectiveness dramatically. Tentacruel is an excellent Poison-type to absorb them, while other Rapid Spin users, such as Starmie, Forretress, and Donphan, can also remove them from the field. Physically bulky Pokemon are important as Meloetta is quite frail on that side. Gliscor, the aforementioned Skarmory, and Forretress are all very physically bulky Pokemon that can take hard physical hits from Terrakion and Outrage-wielding Dragon-types.

Celebi, Latias, and, to an extent, Latios all pose a threat to Meloetta since they resist all of her attacks, although if she carries U-turn, they may be in trouble. Latias and Latios also need to watch out for paralysis from Thunder. Scizor easily puts pressure on these three Pokemon (though it will need to watch out for Hidden Power Fire). Tyranitar is also good to Pursuit fleeing Latias and Latios. Lastly, Politoed is a key partner to Meloetta. As Meloetta prefers to use Thunder for its power and debilitating side effects, eternal rain provided by Politoed will take her a long way.

Other Options

A purely physical set (with Relic Song, of course) that focuses on the Pirouette forme is plausible, but it is generally walled by physically bulky Pokemon while being outclassed by other physical attackers such as Terrakion. Her Aria forme would also be completely useless with such a set. A mixed set with Work Up or Hone Claws, coupled with Close Combat, Thunder, and Psychic also seems usable, but is outclassed by most mixed attackers in OU, and this is not to mention that the Relic mixed set does this just as well anyway.

Checks and Counters

Celebi probably stands out as the best all-around counter to Meloetta, resisting most of the moves that she carries, while not fearing paralysis due to Natural Cure. However, Celebi does need to watch out for U-turn. Latias with Substitute or Refresh is also a decent counter, although if she lacks Refresh, she must be very careful in switching into Thunder, lest she get paralyzed by it.

Otherwise, Relic mixed Meloetta can be surprisingly hard to counter; due to her forme-changing nature, it's almost like fighting two Pokemon at once. If she is in the right forme, she will generally be able to either hurt your switch-in extremely badly or switch to the other forme to keep momentum. The best thing to try and do would be to outpredict her and catch her in the wrong forme, although this is easier said than done. If you are able to get your bulky Ghost-type into her Pirouette forme or something such as Scizor into her Aria forme, you would have pretty much killed her momentum entirely. If you cannot do that, fast physical attackers such as Choice Scarf Salamence, Landorus, and Haxorus, can take down Meloetta quite easily, whichever forme she is in, while Pokemon with strong priority, such as Breloom, Scizor, and Dragonite, also do very well against both formes.

Meloetta-P

Overview

Relic Mixed

Other Options

Checks and Counters