edit: Protean can be found on Friend Safari Greninjas, in case this hasn't been mentioned in other pages. (I need to read em, hehe)
edit2: Well, my one-post count should indicate that I'm pretty new here. Triple battles seem to be completely overlooked by this community. I apologize if this post is a waste of space, heh.
I've been focusing on rating Triple Battles (meaning this'll be so-so in doubles, dame da in singles, obviously), and have a rather odd setup that's been pretty useful. I thought I'd share. :)
Setup Aide / Swiss Army Knife
Greninja@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Mat Block
- U-Turn
- Rock Slide
- Dig
Set description:
This Greninja gets swapped in and out quite a bit, but its primary purpose is being a turn 1 setup aide. The 84 speed may seem strange at first, but I calculated it to just barely outspeed timid scarfed Heat Wave users in a Sunny Day fire team. (Ninetales, Charizard, Growlithe) Furthermore, being at -1 base speed of a Noivern and -4 of a Talonflame (both are crazy popular), there's no chance of it ever outspeeding a scarfed timid one, so it seemed sensible to give it a little more survivability with the HP. In any case, teams that need one round of setup or even just may need to keep the heat off for a turn as it derails the opponent's setup will benefit greatly from this Greninja's nearly unstoppable Mat Block. Its Protean ability obviously gives it STAB on everything, and the abilities I've chosen are situational. U-Turn is an obvious choice since it's scarfed, but I also personally picked it because it filled a hole in my team's type coverage. Rock Slide seems to get used the most as Flying is still quite popular and that 30% flinch chance is almost a forgone conclusion when it hits all targets in a triple battle. Dig was a personal choice due to my team already having excessive water and ice coverage, but it also gives my Greninja immunity to Electric. It has turned the tide a couple times for me, but it's VERY situational. Being scarfed, it's most likely only a Trick Room team will be able to counter it with Earthquake the first time. Second time it's as good as dead, as I'm probably down to 3 mons by then. Most people will probably just go with some water/ice move as their fourth.
Aside from its round 1 purpose, which moves I use are very situational. On scarfed attack teams I'll usually get two to three Mat Blocks in before running down to 3 mons due to one of my mons having an Eject Button. Tailwind teams won't be able to outspeed me that first round, but I'll usually keep Greninja out of harms way until the tailwind peters out due to its vulnerability. Aside from that...I call it a swiss army knife for a reason: whatever type it needs to be near the end of the match, it will be that type, and hopefully be able to clean things up.
Checks & Counters:
Entry hazard teams will diminish this Greninja's usefulness, as will Trick Room teams. However, if your team can sufficiently stall, it has a wide variety of uses once the Trick Room runs out. (including a second Mat Block if you still have 4 mons alive and no serious priority threats) It's unlikely to get knocked out in the first round by priority moves, since it's intended to be positioned on the side. Though Mach Punch is a definite threat, I haven't seen this being tossed around much at all. Anything with >=102 base speed, scarfed, with a speed nature and max speed EV/IV is also a threat.
A scarfed STAB Brave Bird will probably OHKO it, even with the HP. Status torment teams will grief your team through the Mat Block. Fake Out is an obvious but predictable threat, but this can be re-countered trying to predict your enemy. (i.e. I'll switch to my Eject Button Hariyama who'll switch back to the Greninja same turn, use Protect on my setup target and a status move on my third...often surprises the enemy! And sometimes falls flat.)
Trappers (Mega Gengar being most common) will likely force you to abandon your setup or sacrifice this Greninja. Depends greatly on what you're setting up. :D