Pokedex Number: #468
Type: Fairy/Flying
Base stats: 85/80/95/120/115/80
Abilities: Hustle and Serene Grace (Hidden: Super Luck)
Notable moves:
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Baton Pass
- Dazzling Gleam
- Defog
- Extrasensory
- Fire Blast
- Flamethtower
- Grass Knot
- Heal Bell
- Light Screen
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Reflect
- Shadow Ball
- Tailwind
- Thunder Wave
- Trick
- Wish
Analysis:
The bringer of peace and joy looks to have a chance once again in the OU metagame. Its new Fairy/Flying typing gives it great double-resistances to Fighting and Bug, single resistance to Dark, and (best of all) immunity to Dragon and Ground. That alone makes it a great check to Salamence, Garchomp, Dragonite and Haxorus, forcing them to carry Stone Edge or some other coverage move (and be walled by Skarmory and co...!) It has a good movepool, from special attacking options like Fire Blast and Aura Sphere, to supporting options like Heal Bell, Thunderwave and even Wish. Its boostable 120 Special Attack is nothing to laugh at, 85/95/115 defences makes it quite bulky, and it's still an annoying exploiter of Serene Grace hax.
Still, it still has the same problems it did in past gens: Stealth Rock weakness, vulnerability to status and mediocre 80 base speed. It's also more vulnerable than ever to Scizor because of its typing, and there are new threats such as Doublade, Aegislash and Mega Lucario. It also has got a case of the 4-slot move syndrome: Both of its STABs are excellent with Serene Grace, but it needs to drop one of these to run both Fire Blast and Aura Sphere (otherwise, one of Aegislash or Heatran would completely hard-stop it). Still, I predict that Togekiss will see a fair bit more use now, and perhaps be the one of the most used Fairy-type in OU.
Potential Movesets
Defensive
Nature: Bold / Calm
Ability: Serene Grace
Item: Leftovers
EVs:
248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe (Bold)
248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spe (Calm)
- Thunder Wave / Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam / Fire Blast / Aura Sphere / Baton Pass (et al.)
- Roost
One of Togekiss's old sets, which takes full advantage of its natural bulk and its infamous stall-breaking Air Slashes. Togekiss is now blessed with a new typing that improves its already great durability, letting it set up between Roosts in front of Fighting-types and fleeing Dragons. Paraflinch is as annoying as ever, though it's harder now that Electric-types are immune to paralysis — especially since Electric-types gave him such trouble from the beginning!
The third slot could be taken by a lot of options. Dazzling Gleam hits dragons hard and is Togekiss's best attack against Electric-types. Fire Blast is the best for coverage to handle Scizor, Genesect and others, though Aura Sphere can 2HKO Heatran and Assault Vest Tyranitar. Baton Pass can be used with Nasty Plot to pass boosts Heatran or a faster special sweeper.
After playing with Togekiss a lot, a Bold defensive spread has worked somewhat better than Timid. The EVs maximise physical bulk. You could also run Calm with special EVs instead. If you're using Nasty Plot, 52 EVs in Speed are useful for getting the jump on Rotom-W to flinchax it long enough for Dazzling Gleam to be in KO-range, or just Baton Pass to a counter-counter. Using Roost before Rotom-W uses Volt Switch helps too.
Offensive Nasty Plot
Nature: Timid
Ability: Serene Grace
Item: Life Orb / Leftovers / Pixie Plate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Fire Blast / Aura Sphere / Roost
A more offensive option for a Nasty Plot set. Even this Togekiss is surprisingly bulky, being able to survive a Garchomp's +2 LO Fire Fang even after Stealth Rock. Nasty Plot makes its SAtk truly frightening when it's successfully set up. This set really appreciates Stealth Rock and Sticky Web support.
You can also use this set with EVs similar to the Bulky Attacker set. Worth noting, that a max SpA Togekiss will OHKO Rotom-W after +2, which surprises a lot of people.
Bulky Attacker (courtesy of AccidentalGreed)
Nature: Modest
Ability: Serene Grace
Evs: 248 HP / 68 SpA / 192 Spe (EVs by Alexwolf)
Item: Leftovers / Life Orb
- Dazzling Gleam
- Air Slash / Aura Sphere
- Fire Blast / Aura Sphere
- Roost
A bulky all-out attacking set with recovery that works as a pivot. This one doesn't boost, but arguably one of the more effective sets, seeing as it's a bit too slow to sweep without paralysis support.
The 192 Spe outspeeds Jolly Tyranitar. You can also use 172 Spe with Timid to outspeed Jolly Breloom, though he's got the nerf stick quite hard this time. If outspeeding Breloom and Tyranitar aren't a concern and you want more power, you can use 248 HP / 208 SAtk / 52 Spe to outspeed Rotom-W. This is very useful, as Togekiss is a huge Rotom-W bait, and LO Dazzling Gleam is a clean 2HKO with these EVs.
Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid
Ability: Serene Grace
Item: Choice Scarf
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Aura Sphere
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower / Trick
Togekiss could also go Scarf to fix its mediocre speed. With this set, Togekiss can revenge-kill weakened Dragons and make its Air Slash flinchax more annoying than ever :^) You could use Trick here, though it's probably less useful nowadays as every team is bound to have a Mega. (You can't take away megastones.)
Since this Togekiss will be switching in and out quite often, it's very vulnerable to Stealth Rock. Should you choose to use it, Rapid Spin or Defog support is a must.
Counters & Checks
Electric-types are still the best checks and counters. The Rotom-formes are a big problem for Togekiss, as they're immune to paralysis, usually outspeed it and immediately threaten it. Rotom-W is the most often seen check, though it is 2HKO'd by the bulky Life Orb set and the Nasty Plot set. Rotom-H completely hard-stops Togekiss, resisting both STABs as well as Fire Blast. Thundurus is incredibly threatening and can use your Thunderwave to get free turns.
Heatran, Jirachi, Aegislash and Tyranitar counter Togekiss if it lacks one of its coverage moves (and Heatran and T-tar can withstand even those with Assault Vest). Scizor, Lucario and Metagross have access to STAB Bullet Punch, but should watch out for Fire Blast and Aura Sphere (for Lucario).
Stealth Rock is still a thorn on Togekiss's side, especially now that he has the new big task of checking the most threatening dragons in OU, though with the Defog buff it's more difficult to set up than before.
Synergy
Togekiss really wants something to get rid of the Sneaky Pebbles. Losing a quarter of its health upon switch-in means it can't tank as well non-STAB neutral hits from Dragons, like Fire Blast from Salamence and Hydreigon, and secondary moves from Fighting-types like Breloom's Bullet Seed. To that end, Excadrill is a good teammate for its Rapid Spin. Excadrill and Togekiss have very good type synergy, and Excadrill handles many Togekiss checks, like Rotom-W, Thundurus, Tyranitar, even Aegislash marvelously. Heatran itself is a great teammate to Togekiss, as it checks Scizor, Aegislash, Jirachi and many other Steel-types. Alternatively, you can use the newly-buffed Defog to blow away hazards. Latias stands out as good user, as she can handle Rotom-W, Thundurus, and Heatran very well. Togekiss itself can also learn Defog, but using that on an already rock-weak mon is somewhat dicey.
The non-Scarf sets appreciate paralysis support to make up for the lack of speed. Hazard support helps too. Ferrothorn, Jirachi, and Deoxys-S can set up Stealth Rock and provide Thunderwave support at once. Alternatively, you could use Sticky Web from Galvantula (who can also induce paralysis with Compound-eyes Thunder) Bear in mind that Defog support can clash with entry hazards in general, though if you're only Stealth Rock, you just need a feel for when to use which.
Personal opinions
Overall, I think that Togekiss, along with Azumarill, is shaping up to be the most OU-viable fairy by far. Its great new typing is sure to give it the popularity it once had. Even with new potent threats to it like Aegislash and M-Lucario and the dreaded 4-slot move syndrome, it can hold its own in the OU meta, being bulky and powerful at once.
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