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Intimidate
- Lowers the foe's Attack one stage. Decreases wild encounter rate.
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Quick Feet
- Increases Speed by 50% when afflicted with a status condition.
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Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
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Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
70
|
- |
281 |
344 |
- |
| Atk |
90
|
194 |
216 |
279 |
306 |
| Def |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
| SpA |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpD |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Spe |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
Overview
Mightyena scavenges the DPP battlefield as arguably the worst fully evolved Dark-type in the game. Aside from its Attack—which is just barely decent—Mightyena's stats are awful, and its movepool—which somehow lacks Pursuit, an even more perplexing issue considering that Mightyena is based on a hyena—is horrid. Its only saving grace is its access to two great abilities, Quick Feet and Intimidate, that allow it to at least function in the UU metagame. When it comes down to it, though, if you're looking for a Dark-type for your team, you're probably better off choosing one that does what Mightyena can and then some, such as Absol, Drapion, or Skuntank.
Mightyena has just enough Speed, a satisfactory movepool, and the Intimidate-enhanced bulk to function as a usable stallbreaker. Super Fang and Taunt form the crux of the set, and when combined completely shut down many of the common walls found on stall teams, such as Chansey and Registeel. The idea when using this Mightyena is to switch in on a wall as it uses a harmless move, such as Softboiled, and Taunt them. Mightyena is then free to use Super Fang to immediately strip the wall of half of their health, and because of Taunt, they are unable to recover HP. Crunch is recommended for a reliable STAB move, although Rest can be used in its place to ensure stall teams can't wear down Mightyena with status or repeated attacks. Sucker Punch is used in the last slot to pick off faster threats and Choice Scarf users like Rotom, a common sight on stall teams. Finally, Toxic can be used in place of Sucker Punch to bring down Milotic and Spiritomb when combined with Rest and Taunt.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Intimidate is used as it allows Mightyena to soften the hard-hitters of UU, and allow another teammate, such as Rhyperior, to switch in and set up with greater ease. This usually comes into play when facing more offensive teams, against which Mightyena is more of a liability. However, Mightyena is still able to pick off faster threats with Sucker Punch, notably Mismagius and Alakazam, so don't throw Mightyena under the bus too soon. The EV spread is designed to allow Mightyena to outpace Adamant Torterra before a Rock Polish, OHKO Rotom, Mismagius, and Alakazam with Sucker Punch, and give Mightyena the most bulk it can get out of the remaining EVs.
Without Quick Feet, Mightyena is not immune to status, so including a partner who can absorb or heal them is highly recommended. Clefable makes the perfect teammate in this regard, as it is able to absorb all forms of status and cure Mightyena of any status trouble with Heal Bell. Be aware, though, that they both share a weakness to Fighting-type attacks, so include a Ghost-type on your team to remedy this problem. An amazing partner to stallbreaker Mightyena is SubSplit Rotom, as they are able to cover each other's weaknesses almost perfectly and can beat each other's counters reasonably well. Finally, bulky Psychic-types, such as Uxie and Claydol, make good teammates due to their ability to set up Stealth Rock and absorb any Fighting-type attacks sent at Mightyena.
After Toxic Orb activates Quick Feet, Mightyena reaches a blistering Speed stat of 393, enough to outspeed the entire unboosted UU metagame bar Electrode while keeping the ability to switch between moves. This would make Mightyena the quintessential revenge killer if it weren't for Mightyena's lack of offensive power. With a status condition inflicted, Facade becomes Mightyena's strongest attack, which is highly disappointing as it doesn't even get STAB. Fortunately, Mightyena is still powerful enough to KO many frail UU threats with Stealth Rock support being necessary for several of these KOs. The main idea when using Mightyena mid-game is to bring it in on a Pokemon it can revenge kill with Sucker Punch, such as Rotom, Mismagius, and Alakazam, and eliminate them. After this, Mightyena's Toxic Orb will activate, firing its Speed stat up to the heavens and beyond.
Crunch is used primarily so that Mightyena doesn't have to rely on the oftentimes unreliable Sucker Punch for STAB, although Mightyena's movepool is so poor there isn't really any other option anyway. The last slot comes down to personal preference. As Mightyena's Attack stat is quite lackluster, Howl can be used to raise it, which will allow Mightyena to 2HKO bulkier threats, such as Venusaur and Uxie. Taunt can be used in its place to shut down walls that will inevitably switch into Mightyena, like Registeel, and it can also prevent specific threats from setting up on Mightyena as it switches out, such as Rhyperior and Aggron.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Some other options that can be used in the last slot include Protect, Super Fang, and Yawn. Protect allows Mightyena to activate its Toxic Orb scot-free while scouting your opponent's switch-in; however, Howl and Taunt are hard to replace, and so are Mightyena's attacking moves. Super Fang strips bulky walls, such as Weezing and Rhyperior, of half their health, allowing Mightyena's teammates to eliminate them more easily. Yawn can cause switches to help Mightyena activate its Toxic Orb and may even put something to sleep heaven forbid.
Toxic Orb is the chosen item for this set as it activates Quick Feet with no drawbacks other than inflicting poison on Mightyena. Flame Orb cannot be used as, unlike the ability Guts, Quick Feet will not cancel out the Attack drop caused by the burn condition. Finally, Mightyena can switch into Thunder Wave safely, as Quick Feet will still activate and Mightyena will receive the Speed boost as normal. Unfortunately, there is a chance that full paralysis will occur, so don't play too loosely with Mightyena in that regard.
In order for Mightyena to be successful, it needs some heavy duty team support. U-turn users are amazing partners, particularly slow users such as Uxie, as they can get Mightyena in safely and activate its Toxic Orb without the need for Protect or utilizing the Sucker Punch strategy described above. Mightyena is easily walled by Registeel, Milotic, Rhyperior, and Weezing, so including a powerful special sweeper on your team will allow Mightyena to bypass these threats. Life Orb Milotic and Physical Sweeper Venusaur make great teammates as they can handle the aforementioned Pokemon quite nicely, and they appreciate Mightyena's ability to pick off faster sweepers, such as Swellow, Sceptile, and Rotom.
Other Options
A Choice Band set is conceivable; however, Mightyena's lack of a secondary STAB and utterly horrible physical movepool puts that idea to rest. Fire Fang is Mightyena's most powerful attack against Tangrowth and Registeel, but even then Mightyena is unable to 3HKO them without Stealth Rock and Spikes support. Rock Smash is Mightyena's alternative answer to Steel- and Rock-types, especially Aggron, but has no use outside of that. Finally, Toxic can be used alongside Protect and Wish support to effectively stall out the enemy; unfortunately, Mightyena is almost directly outclassed by Arcanine in this regard thanks to the latter's access to reliable recovery in Morning Sun.
Checks and Counters
There is no shortage of counters to this poor mutt, as its mediocre Attack stat and low defenses make the hyenas from the Lion King seem more intimidating. Spiritomb is an excellent counter thanks to its immunity to Super Fang and Facade and ability to rip Mightyena to shreds with Hidden Power Fighting. Registeel, Aggron, and Steelix take almost no damage from any of Mightyena's attacks outside of Super Fang and can easily retaliate with Earthquake, and in Aggron's case, Head Smash. Weezing easily outstalls any Mightyena thanks to Pain Split and its immunity to Toxic. Rhyperior takes little damage from anything Mightyena can dish out and can proceed to use it as setup fodder. Bulky Fighting-types, such as Hariyama and Hitmontop, will easily pound Mightyena into dust with their STAB moves. Tangrowth, Leafeon, Milotic, Blastoise, and Miltank can soak up any attack Mightyena throws at them and eliminate it. Ultimately, when dealing with Mightyena, use a bulky Pokemon, avoid Super Fang, and you've countered it.
