Bunnelby
38 HP / 36 Atk / 38 Def / 32 SpA / 36 SpD / 57 Spe
Abilities: Pickup / Cheek Pouch / Huge Power (Hidden)
Return
Frustration
Spikes
U-turn
Earthquake
Quick Attack
Bounce
Super Fang
Bulk Up
Brick Break
Thief
Stone Edge
Rock Slide
Substitute
Wild Charge
Power-Up Punch
Frustration
Spikes
U-turn
Earthquake
Quick Attack
Bounce
Super Fang
Bulk Up
Brick Break
Thief
Stone Edge
Rock Slide
Substitute
Wild Charge
Power-Up Punch
By far the cutest of all LC Pokemon, Bunnelby was introduced this gen to make a huge splash in the LC metagame, and I do mean huge. When XY was first released, Bunnelby appeared to be the Rattata of XY, with mediocre stats and abilities. However, as we kept learning more and more things about this game, more and more great qualities of Bunnelby began to surface. To begin with, it has a pretty spectacular movepool, with Normal, Ground, Rock, Fighting, Electric, and Flying coverage moves of decent to great power. Bunnelby also has access to other great moves, such as Bulk Up, Power-Up Punch, and U-turn. As with all of the other early-game rodents, Bunnelby also has priority in the form of Quick Attack. Even with all of these great moves on its side, Bunnelby still had very modest attacking stats, poor bulk, and only decent Speed. However, the worst of these factors, its low Attack, has since been remedied by Bunnelby's Hidden Ability, Huge Power, which was previously only available to two other LC-legal Pokemon, Meditite and Azurill, one of which found itself banned while the other is pretty bad because of its low Speed. With Huge Power, Bunnelby reaches an Attack stat of 26 with a Jolly nature, and it allows its decent Speed and fantastic movepool to be put to good use to transform one of the most harmless looking Pokemon in the tier into a major powerhouse.
Potential Sets
Bunnelby @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 52 HP / 228 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge / Thief
With max investment in Speed and a Jolly nature, Bunnelby hits a decent 16 Speed in LC. While this is ok, it doesn't really allow for Bunnelby to keep up against other very fast and frail offensive threats. Bunnelby is able to remedy this issue with a Choice Scarf to boost up to 24 Speed, which is enough to outspeed the entire unboosted tier. Return is used for obligatory STAB alongside Earthquake to patch up coverage against Rock- and Steel-types. U-turn is used in conjunction with Bunnelby's great Speed to scout the opponent's plays and rack up damage against Bunnelby's best checks without locking into another move. The last slot is mainly just filler. Stone Edge can be used for its fantastic neutral coverage alongside Earthquake and to hit Drifloon. However, Thief also hits Drifloon as well as Misdreavus, which otherwise handles this set fairly easily. Still, a super effective Thief doesn't hit much harder than a neutral Stone Edge against Misdreavus, but its superior accuracy is helpful. It also lets Bunnelby steal items from the foe should the opponent Knock Off its Choice Scarf.
Bunnelby @ Eviolite
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 228 Atk / 76 SpD / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- U-turn / Power-Up Punch
- Stone Edge / Quick Attack
With an Eviolite, Bunnelby reaches decent 20/15/16 bulk, allowing it to tank the occasional neutral hit from faster opponents and strike back with its fearsome Attack. The set is very similar to the Choice Scarf set, but the ability to attack without being locked into a move is fantastic, especially against less offensively-oriented teams. I'm not entirely sure if the above moves are ideal, but they seemed to be some of the better option. You can use more or less the same attacks as the Choice Scarf set, or you can go a different route with Power-Up Punch and Quick Attack to boost Bunnelby's Attack even further against weakened foes it can pick off and even finish off more offensive teams with priority. With fewer ways to handle opposing Ghost-types, Pursuit support is greatly appreciated alongside this set.
I was also considering some kind of Substitute set, perhaps with Bulk Up, but maybe not. These two are the ones I've played around with and tested the most, so they're the ones I felt most comfortable with. If anyone else has any other ideas of different sets that Bunnelby might be able to run, please post them! Otherwise, you can use this thread to discuss Bunnelby and its potential effects on the metagame. You can also talk about how adorable it is. :)
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