Genesect
[OVERVIEW]
- Outspeeds and OHKOs prominent threats such as both Landorus formes, Shaymin-Sky, Tapu Lele, and Salamence-Mega.
- Dents common Trick Room setters, such as Hoopa and Necromza.
- Works as a strong offensive pivot with STAB U-turn. Its strong STABs and coverage options generally force switches, allowing it to easily grab momentum.
- Poor matchup against common fire-types and steel-types such as Heatran, Aegislash, Mega Charizard-Y, and Volcanion.
- Awkward speed tier limits it to running Choice Scarf.
- Despite its good defences and typing, its bulk is deceptively poor; Genesect has difficulty tanking some resisted moves, such as Tapu Lele’s Psychic. Its role as a mixed attacker forces it to run a -Def nature, making it even frailer.
- Weak against all forms of speed control.
- Overall, a decent pick for a hyper offense team that needs an answer to Psychics and Fairies.
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: U-turn
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Explosion / Thunderbolt
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
Nature: Hasty
Evs: 112 Atk / 172 SpA / 224 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
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- U-turn is Genesect’s most spammable STAB move, allowing it to pivot out of poor matchups.
- Also hits common TR setters (e.g., Hoopa-U and Oranguru) for super-effective damage.
- Iron Head allows Genesect to OHKO or 2HKO fairies.
- Notably, it OHKOs Tapu Lele and 2HKOs Tapu Koko.
- Ice Beam is used to threaten common ice-weak pokemon such as Zygarde.
- Explosion is a last-ditch spread move.
- Thunderbolt hits Charizard-Y and Celesteela, threats that would usually wall Genesect.
- Flamethrower can be used for opposing steels such as Jirachi and Aegislash.
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- 224 Speed investment with a positive nature allows Genesect to outspeed Landorus-T and Tapu Lele.
- 112 Attack is used so Genesect can OHKO 0/4 Tapu Lele.
- Remainder is dumped into Special Attack. This allows Genesect to 2HKO Zard-Y with Thunderbolt.
- With a choice scarf equipped, Genesect can outspeed the majority of the unboosted meta.
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- U-turn should be used during the early and middle stages of the battle to scout the opponent’s moves and to punch holes in the opposing team.
- Use U-turn to pivot into a better matchup.
- Because of its high speed and Download-boosted attacks, Genesect can serve as an excellent revenge killer.
- Genesect’s relatively low bulk means that it should only be brought in on resisted attacks and after a teammate has been KOd.
- Genesect is 2HKOd by some threats it is meant to check, such as Landorus-T, Tapu Lele, and Mega Salamance.
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- Pokemon that can take advantage of Genesect’s pivoting capabilities, such as Mega Gengar, Mega Salamence, and sub Heatran.
- Mega Salamence and Heatran can set up if Genesect brings them in against Pokemon that deal negligible damage to them.
- Dragon-types and fighting-types that appreciate Genesect’s ability to check fairies and psychic-spam teams.
- In return, Dragon-types can tank fire-type attacks and Fighting types can greatly weaken steels for Genesect.
- Genesect’s most important trait is its high speed, so pokemon that can shut down opposing speed control pair well with it. This includes taunt users, such as Tapu Lele, Gyarados, and Tapu Koko
- Genesect also appreciates speed control from its own team in the form of Icy Wind, Tailwind, or Thunder Wave.
- Bring a solid TR check, as Genesect's high speed and low bulk make it particularly vulnerable to TR.
- As Genesect usually lures in fire-types, it appreciates pokemon capable of taking advantage of them (e.g, Volcanion, Hydreigon, Terrakion, and either Landorus forme).
Other Options
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- Similarly, a Life Orb, Expert Belt or a Choice Band set can give Genesect more power at the cost of the speed of the Choice Scarf set. The loss of speed is particularly bad for Genesect as it relies on its fast speed to pivot out of bad matchups and gain momentum.
- Extreme speed can be used, but is rather ineffective because of Tapu Lele’s presence. It is also revealed at team preview, considering that only Shiny Genesect can legally use it.
- Hidden Power Ground is also another viable choice to lure Heatran. This works especially well with teammates that appreciate it being removed, such as Zard-Y and Tapu Lele.
- In other words, Genesect may have a vast movepool, but its base 99 speed makes Choice Scarf sets much more effective than other options.
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**Fire-type Pokemon**:
Genesect does pitiful damage to fire-types (e.g, Heatran, Mega Charizard-Y) and is OHKOed by them.
**Steel type Pokemon*:
If running Explosion, Genesect is walled by all steel-types. Although it can strike back somewhat if running Flamethrower, Genesect is still walled by Heatran and Aegislash.
**Paralysis, Trick Room, Tailwind**:
Genesect’s biggest draw is its naturally very high speed. Opposing speed control takes away, leaving it as a sitting duck.
**Faster Pokemon**:
Weather sweepers, such as Kingdra and Excadrill, can strike first and deal massive damage to Genesect.
**Intimidate and Burns**:
As a physical attacker, Genesect is vulnerable to intimidate and burns from pokemon such as Lando-T and Rotom-Wash. However, its damage output is not completely neutered by intimidate and burns, as Genesect's Ice Beam still hits for respectable damage.
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