If you want to start off the game Baton Passing Agility boosts while simultaneously dealing with most other leads, Lopunny is the best for the job. This set requires a lot of prediction in order for it to work, but it has a high payoff if it is used correctly. Magic Coat is a great move on a lead, and Lopunny is no exception. With it, Lopunny can bounce back predicted status attacks back at your opponent, hitting them with their own status condition. This is especially good for a Baton Passer.It also hits Encore, but in order for Magic Coat to successfully reflect an Encore, your opponent would have had to use a move before they attempted to Encore you. Lopunny is also a unique applicant for the Baton Passing role because of Klutz, which grants it virtual immunity to Trick. This has the potential to surprise your opponent, who might suspect you to have Cute Charm instead of Klutz. This "immunity" to Trick allows Lopunny to set up in the face of potential Trick users, and Baton Pass out. When combined with Lopunny's Base 105 Speed and solid defenses, this task is normally not hard to do. Because Klutz makes the item you're carrying not affect you, you can Switcheroo potentially damaging items to your opponent. Flame Orb is perhaps the best choice. With the current EVs, you can Trick Flame Orb on to a dangerous physical attacker and take their item away in the process. The EVs are given to utilize Flame Orb as effectively as possible. While it may seem strange to run so much Defense when you always Burn a physical attacker, it makes Tyranitar's Stone Edge a 3HKO almost all of the time even with Sandstorm included, assuming you Switcheroo on the first turn Tyranitar is out. You still have enough bulk on the Special side to make Modest Choice Scarf Heatran's Flamethrower a 3HKO. Lopunny also reaches 300 Speed, which is fast enough to outspeed Salamence. If you have 1 Agility for every 2 Dragon Dances Salamence has, you can outspeed him and cripple him later in the match with Switcheroo. If Flame Orb isn't suited for you, you can also use Iron Ball, Lagging Tail or your own Choice Items to cripple your opponent's lead. Switcherooing a Choice Item on your opponent is effectively the same as using Encore on them, so Switcheroo should still be your primary choice even if you want to use Encore. If you don't plan on using Switcheroo at all, use Substitute or Protect to defend against potential Explosions, and ease what is otherwise a prediction based set.
UU is full of “Tricky” Pokemon who can cripple unprepared teams. Lopunny surpasses other Trickers, however, with its Klutz ability erasing the effects of Choiced items or the negative Speed of Lagging Tail. With Klutz, you can choose your Switcheroo target by waiting until a counter or a Pokemon that wouldn’t want the obstruction of a Choice Scarf comes in. The rest of the set is a standard support set. Toxic allows you to wear down threats after you have Switcherooed your item and hit them on the switch. Magic Coat keeps Lopunny free of status while in play and is a great support move in general but be careful about switching it into status as it isn't immune to any of them. Charm is a good support move keeping healthy Lopunny against Physical attackers. Fire Punch hits Steel-types immune to Toxic along with pesky ghosts, while Return is a good STAB attack to hit anything staying in long enough to outlast Toxic. Healing Wish is always an option letting you help your team set-up for a sweep. As for the item, any of the Choiced items can be used but the safest option is usually Choice Scarf. Choiced Scarf isn’t as intimidating as staring down a Choice Banded or Speced counter and Switcherooing the Speed can utterly mess up bulky walls without giving them potential benefits. Lagging Tail is a good option, basically giving you a pseudo-paralysis and stripping the enemy of its item. With Klutz, Lopunny isn’t gaining anything helpful so it is really up to personal preference.
With a base 105 Speed and access to Encore, Lopunny makes a brilliant Baton Passer. Unlike the previous sets, this one revolves around helping your teammates instead of messing with the opponent's gameplan. The plan is to switch into a Pokemon that is using a support move such as Stealth Rock or a weak attack such as Rapid Spin. If you can switch Lopunny into a Ghost-type using Shadow Ball, you could really make a big play. Simply Encore them, forcing them to continue using that move. This will likely cause a switch giving you time to use Agility. Then Baton Pass to a slow but strong Pokemon and hopefully sweep. Substitute can be used in place of Agility as not only can it be passed, but it can also activate Starf Berry. If Lopunny falls victim to Taunt, Return is there to ensure you can still hit an opponent. If you are confident that Lopunny can take a hit, you can use Agility over Substitute. Hopefully, you will have your Speed increased +2 as well as have another stat increased once Starf Berry kicks in. However, Substitute can safely activate the Berry boost, as well as give a Baton Pass recipient a small shield to hide behind. You must use Cute Charm as the ability as Klutz will prevent the Berries from activating. Cute Charm also could give you another chance to Agility if the opponent becomes immobilized by love.
This set can become very frustrating to play against with a little luck. The set revolves around passing subs to Lopunny’s teammates to help set-up for other Pokemon or getting a free switch-in. With Cute Charm’s infatuation and Paralysis support from Thunder Wave, it shouldn’t be all that hard to get your Sub up. If you are in a tight situation you can either Focus Punch to deal a good amount of damage or Baton Pass the sub off to a teammate. Fire Punch is mentioned so that you can hit incoming Ghosts, especially Froslass. Liechi Berry is an option as you can sub down to its activation range and either pass it or use it for your own punches.
This set attempts to give Lopunny some much-needed offense while still having some of the potency of Switcheroo (take note of Cute Charm!). Return, again, is a strong STAB move for the little bunny. Fire Punch is there to hit incoming ghosts as everything else is resisted. Ice Punch is another decent option hitting mainly Altaria and Driflim. Lopunny encourages a lot of switches from people who fear Choice tricking, so Focus Punch could work well. But if you aren’t so keen about a dry Focus Punch, Low Kick is a suitable replacement. Other OptionsLopunny learns Fling, which could work with Klutz/Iron Ball for a powerful Dark attack; Iron Ball is a possible item to use with Switcheroo as well. Lopunny also has a deep movepool in the support department; take your pick of Captivate, Charm, Mirror Coat, Rain Dance, Swagger just to name a few. You can mix and match any of the above options to any of the sets to your liking. A lot of the support moves work well on the Baton Pass set screwing up potential counters and causing lots of switches which allow you to Sub or stat up. EVsMost of the sets use 252 Speed along with a boosting nature to out speed most Base 100 Pokemon and tie with opposing Scythers and Manectrics. From there, maxing HP isn’t a bad option giving her a bit more bulkiness. You can max Attack as well if you want a pure attacking set like the Choice Band one. OpinionLopunny has some handy options, but don't expect it to do a lot on the offensive side, unless you outfit it with Choice Band or use the SubPunching set. Try to keep your opponent guessing. Often times, opponents may be overly cautious concerning Switcheroo giving you time to set-up and punish them if they mispredict your set. CountersChoice tricking is best combated by a mixed attacker, who doesn't mind receiving any Choice item—the Nidos in particular can be hazardous to Lopunny, being immune to Toxic and fairly bulky. Sharpedo can also be dangerous as it is often mixed and doesn’t mind taking a Choiced Item, just be careful about switching it into the Choice Band or SubPunch sets. Steels will wall the Choice Band set to an extent and do fairly well against the SubPunch sets, but need to be careful about getting Switcherooed on making them obsolete. Once the Choice threat is gone, any decent physical threat will hurt it substantially. |
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