Dex Page
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[Overview]
- Yanakki packs an excellent 101 base Speed, decent 98 base offenses, a solid range of offensive moves and access to both Claw Sharpen and Nasty Plot to boost its stats. All this can make Yanakki a solid Pokemon to use.
- Flaws: Its low defenses mean that it will take a ton of damage from even neutral attacks, and it can forget about surviving super-effective attacks. Yanakki also has severe competition from other offensive Grass types such as Shaymin and Sceptile.
name: Physical Yanakki
move 1: Claw Sharpen
move 2: Seed Bomb
move 3: Low Kick
move 4: Rock Slide
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Set Comments
- Aims to use Claw Sharpen to boost its Attack then sweep with good type coverage and high Speed.
- Seed Bomb is Yanakki's primary attack, packing a fair amount of punch after a Claw Sharpen boost.
- Low Kick covers Steel types such as Natorrei, Heatran and Magnezone.
- Rock Slide completes coverage by hitting Flying types, as well as Fire types that resist Grass+Fighting, such as Urugamosu and Victini.
- Crunch can hit Shandera harder than Rock Slide, but it is otherwise not worth sacrificing coverage.
- Skarmory is a big pain for Yanakki, since it can take a Low Kick and reply with Brave Bird.
- Scizor is another issue that can hinder Yanakki, because it resists Grass and has a powerful Bullet Punch to inflict huge damage on Yanakki.
- Magnezone is an excellent partner for Yanakki, being able to trap and eliminate both Skarmory and Scizor.
- Scarfed Fire types such as Shandera and Heatran are capable of stopping Yanakki. A bulky Water type or a Fire type lure is recommended for this reason.
name: Special Yanakki
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid
Set Comments
- Yanakki fills the niche of being the fastest Grass type that has access to Nasty Plot.
- Celebi may seem like the absolute superior option, but it can not outspeed base 100s 100% of the time and doesn't learn Focus Blast, meaning Yanakki has tools to differentiate itself from Nasty Plot Celebi.
- Coverage is mostly the same as the Physical Yanakki set, Grass Knot as main STAB move, Focus Blast for Steels and Hidden Power Ice for Flying types.
- If you don't want to use Nasty Plot for whatever reason, Leaf Storm is available for a hard hitting alternate STAB move.
- Hidden Power Fire can hit Scizor, Genosect and Forretress hard than Focus Blast, but it doesn't have the raw coverage Hidden Power Ice provides.
- Priority users such as Scizor still are a big threat to Yanakki.
- Blissey can beat Special Yanakki 1-on-1 if it has Ice Beam. Even if Blissey doesn't have Ice Beam, it could use Thunder Wave and cripple Yanakki's chances of getting a sweep.
- Fighting-types such as Roobushin and Lucario can take down Blissey.
- Pokemon capable of removing Steel-types that are neutral to Fighting can clear the way for a Yanakki sweep. Examples of Pokemon that can do this include Fire-types such as Heatran, Infernape and Shandera and Pokemon with Magnet Pull such as Magnezone.
- Entry hazards can wear down Yanakki's checks into KO range for a boosted attack.
- Water-types can stop threatening fast Fire-types from eliminating Yanakki from play.
- If you are using the Special Yanakki set, Fighting types can easily take care of Blissey.
- A mixed set with Leaf Storm is feasible on Yanakki, but it is entirely outclassed by Sceptile.
- Cheer Up is an alternative boosting move, but it isn't as useful as Claw Sharpen or Nasty Plot for sweeping purposes.
- The only other notable offensive move Yanakki packs is Crunch, which has little use other than dealing super-effective damage to some Ghosts such as Desukaan.
- A SubSalac set seems feasible with Yanakki's Gluttony ability. However, the abundance of residual damage and priority makes it a set that is hard to sweep with.
- Priority is the biggest enemy to Yanakki. Scizor's Bullet Punch, Roobushin's Mach Punch and Lucario's Extremespeed / Vacuum Wave amongst other priority moves will do a ton of damage to Yanakki, if not outright KO it.
- Certain Steel-types will be able to wall Yanakki and strike back. Skarmory can set up Spikes on Yanakki or take it out with Brave Bird. Metagross can take down Yanakki with Meteor Mash. Genosect is able to set-up a Rock Polish and finish off Yanakki with Bug Buzz, Flamethrower or Ice Beam.
- Yanakki gets the ability Overgrow from the Dream World.
- Since none of Yanakki's usable sets use berries, Overgrow is much more useful than Gluttony, so it should be the main ability in an environment where it is legal.