QC 0/3
Overview
Porygon-Z is the 1v1 tier's premier fast special attacker. It can run a variety of sets and cover almost every top threat with its Scarf, Specs, and Z-Move variants. It's good speed combined with it's blistering special attack lets it tear through the metagame with Adaptability or Download boosted Hyper Beams, Uproars, and BoltBeams.
Standard Scarf
Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Uproar
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
Set Comments
Moves
*Hyper Beam is your easy-win button most games. It's got a massive base power and is a neutral KO on most pokemon. Even though it's got the downsides of 90% accuracy and a recharge turn afterward, this move is still your strongest STAB and best chance at victory versus most pokemon.
*Uproar is your secondary STAB move, with 90 base power and no recharge. It lets you 2hko things like Gyarados, and lets you bypass Substitute and avoid sleep from pokemon like Whimsicott, Jumpluff, and Smeargle.
*Trick shuts down a variety of walls that don't like being locked into a stat boosting or status move, such as Deoxys-Defense, Ferrothorn, or Mew. It also lets you beat FEAR.
*Shadow Ball exists to hit Ghost types and is your best answer to Mega Slowbro.
*Other options for coverage moves include Dark Pulse which has a nice flinch chance, Thunderbolt which is good vs water types but somewhat redundant as you already beat Mega Gyarados with Uproar, and Ice Beam for 4x Weaknesses like Dragonite (although Hyper Beam already nets the KO on Garchomp, Landorus, and Gliscor).
Set Details
*EVs simply max out speed and special attack, your two most important stats. Modest nature is generally preferred over Timid since you increase your chances at KOing bulky versions of Charizard X, Gyarados, and Mega Slowbro. Timid lets you outspeed (or speed tie) other Porygon-Z, though the damage drop often isn't worth it.
Usage Tips
*Bring Porygon-Z out when your opponent is lacking appropriate checks. If they don't have anything that can take a Hyper Beam, you're at an enormous advantage provided they don't outspeed.
*Porygon-Z can actually be used to bait out some medium-speed mons like Charizard by bluffing a Specs or Z-Crystal set.
*You have a ton of options for Porygon, so don't be afraid to change up your set frequently based on what people are currently running on the ladder.
Team Options
Porygon-Z generally pairs well with pokemon that can check its counters, which are Sturdy pokemon (Crustle, Donphan, Sawk), spDef walls (Chansey, Deoxys-D), steel types (Magearna, Metagross) and faster scarfers (Kyurem-B, scarf Greninja). Sturdy pokemon are dealt with via Mold Breaker, making Kyurem-B and Mega Gyarados great partners. Specially defensive walls are taken out by strong physical mons, like Gyarados, Kyurem-B, Crustle, Metagross, or Mega Pinsir. Steels are taken out by Ground or Fire types like Charizard, Landorus, Donphan, or Heatran. Fast scarfs are defeated by things that can tank a hit, which is situational based on the scarfer, but generally bulky Mega Gyarados, Magearna, or Crustle can get the job done.
Strategy Comments
Other Options
*Porygon-Z can also run a variety of other sets - it can utilize several variations of Scarf sets, as well as Choice Specs, Normalium Z, and even Electrium Z. Most of these sets revolve around taking a hit and boosting up or just straight KOing back, meaning that pokemon like Tapu Koko, Greninja, Mega Pinsir, and Kartana become threats since they outspeed you if you're not scarfed and can knock out even bulky Porygon-Z.
*Defensive Scarf Porygon-Z can beat Standard Gyarados, Charizard X/Y, and both Scarfed and Banded Kyurem-Black. 240 defense investment lets you tank any hit from Scarfed Kyurem, and 96 speed investment lets you outpace Modest Tapu Koko.
*Choice Specs Porygon-Z can invest either speed or bulk alongside special attack, and can act as a potent wallbreaker. However, you can no longer outspeed base 100 pokemon like Charizard.
*Normalium Z Porygon can boost all its stats with Z-Conversion (and if you want, you can also switch your typing to Ghost or Electric) before blowing an opponent away with the equivalent of a Scarf and Specs boost. It also has the option of using Breakneck Blitz -> Hyper Beam combo which can make quick work of lots of bulky pokemon. You have the freedom to invest in HP, but you also need to make sure you survive turn one so you can boost up in the first place.
*Electrium Z Porygon can use Thunder or Zap Cannon to power up its Gigavolt Havoc to monstrous levels. Since you're not locked into a choice item, you have the freedom to run Nasty Plot alongside Uproar/Hyper Beam/Hidden Power to boost your damage. 20 HP and 252 defense investment let you tank a Continental Crush -> Ice Shard combo from Donphan, a pokemon that you normally lose to.
*The combination of Choice Scarf + Shadow Ball + Conversion + Trick lets you defeat pokemon that normally hard counter you, such as Chansey, Meloetta, and any Hyper Beam/Giga Impact user that can normally survive your attacks. Against Chansey, you can Trick it your scarf and lock it into Seismic Toss before using Conversion to become a Ghost type, immune to Seismic Toss. Versus specs Meloetta and similar mons (choiced Terrakion, Slaking, Sawk, even other Porygon-Z) you can simply click Conversion turn one and become a Ghost type, then watch as your opponent blows all their Hyper Beam/Giga Impact/Close Combat PP against you and Struggles themselves to death.
Checks and Counters
*Every Sturdy Pokemon (Crustle, Donphan, Golem, Sawk, Magnezone, Avalugg): All these pokemon can tank a hit from Porygon with at least 1hp, and KO it back while it's busy recharging it's Hyper Beam.
*Rock/Steel types (Mega Metagross, Magearna, Genesect, Jirachi, Celesteela, Rhyperior, Heatran): These guys all resist your Hyper Beam and have no problem taking a hit and one- or two-shotting you.
*Special walls (Chansey, Deoxys-D, Mega Venusaur, Assault Vest users): These pokemon can generally survive any of your attacks barring crits and whittle you down over time.
Overview
Porygon-Z is the 1v1 tier's premier fast special attacker. It can run a variety of sets and cover almost every top threat with its Scarf, Specs, and Z-Move variants. It's good speed combined with it's blistering special attack lets it tear through the metagame with Adaptability or Download boosted Hyper Beams, Uproars, and BoltBeams.
Standard Scarf
Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Uproar
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
Set Comments
Moves
*Hyper Beam is your easy-win button most games. It's got a massive base power and is a neutral KO on most pokemon. Even though it's got the downsides of 90% accuracy and a recharge turn afterward, this move is still your strongest STAB and best chance at victory versus most pokemon.
*Uproar is your secondary STAB move, with 90 base power and no recharge. It lets you 2hko things like Gyarados, and lets you bypass Substitute and avoid sleep from pokemon like Whimsicott, Jumpluff, and Smeargle.
*Trick shuts down a variety of walls that don't like being locked into a stat boosting or status move, such as Deoxys-Defense, Ferrothorn, or Mew. It also lets you beat FEAR.
*Shadow Ball exists to hit Ghost types and is your best answer to Mega Slowbro.
*Other options for coverage moves include Dark Pulse which has a nice flinch chance, Thunderbolt which is good vs water types but somewhat redundant as you already beat Mega Gyarados with Uproar, and Ice Beam for 4x Weaknesses like Dragonite (although Hyper Beam already nets the KO on Garchomp, Landorus, and Gliscor).
Set Details
*EVs simply max out speed and special attack, your two most important stats. Modest nature is generally preferred over Timid since you increase your chances at KOing bulky versions of Charizard X, Gyarados, and Mega Slowbro. Timid lets you outspeed (or speed tie) other Porygon-Z, though the damage drop often isn't worth it.
Usage Tips
*Bring Porygon-Z out when your opponent is lacking appropriate checks. If they don't have anything that can take a Hyper Beam, you're at an enormous advantage provided they don't outspeed.
*Porygon-Z can actually be used to bait out some medium-speed mons like Charizard by bluffing a Specs or Z-Crystal set.
*You have a ton of options for Porygon, so don't be afraid to change up your set frequently based on what people are currently running on the ladder.
Team Options
Porygon-Z generally pairs well with pokemon that can check its counters, which are Sturdy pokemon (Crustle, Donphan, Sawk), spDef walls (Chansey, Deoxys-D), steel types (Magearna, Metagross) and faster scarfers (Kyurem-B, scarf Greninja). Sturdy pokemon are dealt with via Mold Breaker, making Kyurem-B and Mega Gyarados great partners. Specially defensive walls are taken out by strong physical mons, like Gyarados, Kyurem-B, Crustle, Metagross, or Mega Pinsir. Steels are taken out by Ground or Fire types like Charizard, Landorus, Donphan, or Heatran. Fast scarfs are defeated by things that can tank a hit, which is situational based on the scarfer, but generally bulky Mega Gyarados, Magearna, or Crustle can get the job done.
Strategy Comments
Other Options
*Porygon-Z can also run a variety of other sets - it can utilize several variations of Scarf sets, as well as Choice Specs, Normalium Z, and even Electrium Z. Most of these sets revolve around taking a hit and boosting up or just straight KOing back, meaning that pokemon like Tapu Koko, Greninja, Mega Pinsir, and Kartana become threats since they outspeed you if you're not scarfed and can knock out even bulky Porygon-Z.
*Defensive Scarf Porygon-Z can beat Standard Gyarados, Charizard X/Y, and both Scarfed and Banded Kyurem-Black. 240 defense investment lets you tank any hit from Scarfed Kyurem, and 96 speed investment lets you outpace Modest Tapu Koko.
*Choice Specs Porygon-Z can invest either speed or bulk alongside special attack, and can act as a potent wallbreaker. However, you can no longer outspeed base 100 pokemon like Charizard.
*Normalium Z Porygon can boost all its stats with Z-Conversion (and if you want, you can also switch your typing to Ghost or Electric) before blowing an opponent away with the equivalent of a Scarf and Specs boost. It also has the option of using Breakneck Blitz -> Hyper Beam combo which can make quick work of lots of bulky pokemon. You have the freedom to invest in HP, but you also need to make sure you survive turn one so you can boost up in the first place.
*Electrium Z Porygon can use Thunder or Zap Cannon to power up its Gigavolt Havoc to monstrous levels. Since you're not locked into a choice item, you have the freedom to run Nasty Plot alongside Uproar/Hyper Beam/Hidden Power to boost your damage. 20 HP and 252 defense investment let you tank a Continental Crush -> Ice Shard combo from Donphan, a pokemon that you normally lose to.
*The combination of Choice Scarf + Shadow Ball + Conversion + Trick lets you defeat pokemon that normally hard counter you, such as Chansey, Meloetta, and any Hyper Beam/Giga Impact user that can normally survive your attacks. Against Chansey, you can Trick it your scarf and lock it into Seismic Toss before using Conversion to become a Ghost type, immune to Seismic Toss. Versus specs Meloetta and similar mons (choiced Terrakion, Slaking, Sawk, even other Porygon-Z) you can simply click Conversion turn one and become a Ghost type, then watch as your opponent blows all their Hyper Beam/Giga Impact/Close Combat PP against you and Struggles themselves to death.
Checks and Counters
*Every Sturdy Pokemon (Crustle, Donphan, Golem, Sawk, Magnezone, Avalugg): All these pokemon can tank a hit from Porygon with at least 1hp, and KO it back while it's busy recharging it's Hyper Beam.
*Rock/Steel types (Mega Metagross, Magearna, Genesect, Jirachi, Celesteela, Rhyperior, Heatran): These guys all resist your Hyper Beam and have no problem taking a hit and one- or two-shotting you.
*Special walls (Chansey, Deoxys-D, Mega Venusaur, Assault Vest users): These pokemon can generally survive any of your attacks barring crits and whittle you down over time.
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