ryan
Jojo Siwa enthusiast
Overview
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Bunnelby, the token rodent of Kalos, is superficially harmless, but beyond its adorable exterior lies one of the strongest Pokemon in Little Cup. With its hidden ability, Huge Power, Bunnelby hits a whopping 26 Attack with a Jolly nature and can take out most of the sturdiest walls in the tier in just one or two hits. Normal STAB, which grants it fantastic neutral coverage in one move alone; STAB priority; and U-turn all separate Bunnelby from Meditite and other powerful physical attackers. Its Speed is also usable, though it isn't quite enough to outpace many top metagame threats. With little to touch Misdreavus and most other Ghost-types and its terrible bulk, Bunnelby can sometimes struggle to keep up against opposing offensive teams.
SET NAME
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name: Life Orb
move 1: Return
move 2: Quick Attack
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Earthquake / Thief
ability: Huge Power
item: Life Orb
evs: 228 Atk / 52 Def / 220 Spe
ivs: 23 HP
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
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Return is Bunnelby's best STAB move, which hits most of the tier for neutral damage on its own. Quick Attack is what makes Bunnelby such a scary Pokemon; when it can't outspeed the opposing Pokemon, it can get off either massive damage against it or simply kill it. For example, even a Jolly Quick Attack is powerful enough to OHKO standard Carvanha. U-turn is another important move for Bunnelby and really separates it from Meditite. Thanks to U-turn, Bunnelby can come in against slower Pokemon it can force out and get huge damage off on incoming switches without being hurt in the process. Earthquake provides coverage against Steel-types, including Magnemite, Ferroseed, and Pawniard. It also hits Rock- and Ghost-type Pokemon, though the most notable Pokemon of these types, Archen and Misdreavus, respectively, are not affected by it. That said, Thief can be used instead in order to get a guaranteed OHKO against Misdreavus without Eviolite and 2HKO those with it, but because it outspeeds Bunnelby, it's difficult to hurt it without being KOed or burned in the process.
Set Details
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The EVs on Bunnelby are standard for offensive Pokemon, with an extra point thrown into Defense. 23 HP IVs bring Bunnelby down to 19 HP so that it only takes one point of HP from Life Orb recoil. Life Orb is used for additional power to help it get specific KOs, such as the KO against Carvanha from full with Quick Attack and a solid chance to KO Berry Juice Gligar from full. A Jolly nature is preferred so that Bunnelby can outspeed opposing Adamant Meditite and all variants of Swirlix before its Unburden activates. Still, an Adamant nature is a solid alternative, as it allows Bunnelby extra KOs, such as a guaranteed KO against Berry Juice Gligar with Return and a large chance of KOing even Eviolite Misdreavus with Thief after Stealth Rock.
Usage Tips
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As Bunnelby is first and foremost a wallbreaker, you want to bring it in as much as you can against defensive teams to start attacking.
- Basically just bring Bunnelby in on anything that you can get a free switch on (slow Volt Switch/U-turn, on the revenge, against Honedge when it's obvious that they won't Secret Sword, etc) and start smacking around the opponent's team
- Early game, you're best off going for U-turn most of the time unless the opponent has like no counters
- Usually really important to keep Bunnelby around later in the match to pick off things like Unburden-boosted Swirlix, Yanma, Carvanha (which just straight up dies to QA), etc.
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- Life Orb Bunnelby goes deliciously well with Sticky Web, as it is super strong but is a bit lacking in speed, so Surskit and Spinarak are legit partners (though Surskit is generally better because it can actually touch Gligar)
- Bulky pivots are nice because faster offensive stuff is going to come in to revenge kill Bunnelby a lot, meaning Chinchou, Tangela, and Mienfoo are really nice partners
- Other U-turn and Volt Switch users are also nice to keep up offensive momentum and help wear down Bunnelby's checks; Magnemite, Gligar, and the aforementioned Chinchou and Mienfoo are cool for this
- Because Misdreavus kinda shits all over Bunnelby, Houndour can be used to Pursuit trap it and Pawniard can beat it (and even Pursuit it as well), but you're usually best off by just wearing it down throughout the match
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name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Return
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Quick Attack / Thief
ability: Huge Power
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 228 Atk / 52 Def / 220 Spe
nature: Adamant
Moves
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- U-turn is the best part of the set, allowing Bunnelby to scout the opposing team and wear down its checks and counters
- Return is the next best part because it's super strong and STAB
- Earthquake covers Steel- and Rock-types
- Quick Attack lets you beat LO Murkrow and pick off stuff that's even faster than it is, including Chlorophyll sweepers in the sun, Unburden Swirlix, and Speed Boost Yanma and Carvanha
- Thief covers Misdreavus, Gastly, and Drifloon, and it can allow Bunnelby to steal an opponent's item after taking a weaker Knock Off
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- Standard EVs
- Item is obvious
- Adamant because it hits 15 Speed (22 w/ Scarf) which outspeeds the whole unboosted metagame and 24 (what it hits w/ Jolly Scarf) doesn't outspeed anything else notable
- You can use Jolly just in case you get hit with Knock Off, but tbh you're not going to be living very many Knock Offs anyways lol
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- Functions as all of: a speedy scout, a revenge killer, and a late-game cleaner
- You can honestly use it as any or all of the above roles in any given game, so how you play it will depend a lot upon the rest of your team and the opponent's team
- Makes for a nice lead because of its fast U-turn, but then you give away your set most of the time
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- Fits on all kinds of teams because of how many roles it can perform
- Works best alongside strong early-game hole punchers such as Life Orb Tangela, Life Orb Meditite, Knock Off Pawniard, etc.
- Because it can't clean with Misdreavus around and can't revenge Misdreavus, having an answer for it, such as Houndour, Carvanha, or Scraggy, is really important
- Gligar can also pivot around with U-turn and set Stealth Rock to help wear down Bunny's checks and counters
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- Wild Charge, Bounce, Brick Break, and Stone Edge are options on either set but generally aren't worth it due to inferior coverage
- Bulk Up can be used, but Bunnelby usually prefers to hit hard off the bat
- A bulky Spikes set is really cool, but Defog Gligar being everywhere sucks a ton for it
- Can run an Agility set, but Quick Attack takes care of its Speed problems
- Silk Scarf can be used to bluff a Choice item and then lure in something to smack it with a coverage move
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- Misdreavus
- Misdreavus
- No really, Misdreavus
- Archen
- Drifloon and Gastly
- Pawniard only fears Earthquake but can KO with Sucker Punch after a tiny bit of prior damage
- Timburr can switch in and Mach Punch
- Croagunk can revenge with Vacuum Wave
- Ferroseed can punish it for spamming U-turn thanks to Iron Barbs
- Murkrow, Mienfoo, and Meditite can fuck it up with priority
- Eviolite Gligar can easily switch in on anything but Return but is 2HKOed by Return and Quick Attack from the Life Orb set and two Returns from the Choice Scarf Set
- Bronzor can take Return, Quick Attack, and Earthquake because of Levitate, but it takes around one third to one half from U-turn and doesn't like taking Thief either
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