[OVERVIEW]
Kartana has proven to be a decent physical attacker in the metagame, boasting a huge Attack stat, a good typing, strong Defense, and a decent Speed tier, but it has rather weak move options. Beast Boost goes a long way, only furthering Kartana's already impressive Attack after it gets a KO. Kartana, however, has extremely poor special bulk and is likely to get OHKOed by almost any neutral special move and, in some cases, even resisted moves.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Leaf Blade
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Smart Strike / Knock Off / Night Slash / Psycho Cut / Giga Impact
item: Fightinium Z / Focus Sash / Darkinium Z / Normalium Z / Grassium Z
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Swords Dance allows Kartana to boost its already immense Attack stat to assist in breaking bulkier Pokemon.
* Leaf Blade is Kartana's strongest Grass-type STAB move, hitting bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Tapu Fini whilst also giving it great damage on Ground-type targets such as Mamoswine, Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Hippowdon.
* Sacred Sword is used to hit Hydreigon and Porygon2 for more damage as well as Steel-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Stakataka, Magnezone, and opposing Kartana.
* Smart Strike has great all-around coverage hitting Fairy-, Ice-, and Rock-types and the occasional Minimize Clefable and Alolan Muk.
* Knock Off provides coverage for Aeigslash and hits Psychic-types such as Cresselia harder while removing items. However, in order to OHKO these threats after a boost, Darkinium Z and Night Slash is required instead.
* Psycho Cut hits Blaziken, Mega Gengar, Mega Venusaur, and Breloom.
* The given spread with a Jolly nature is ideal for Kartana to perform the role of a fast wallbreaker, outspeeding Garchomp, non-Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, and Hydreigon.
* Fightinium Z lets Kartana break threats such as Celesteela when at +2 while also OHKOing Porygon2.
* Focus Sash ensures that Kartana can set up Swords Dance especially against dedicated special attackers, as even neutral special moves can threaten to OHKO Kartana.
* Normalium Z and Giga Impact give Kartana the ability to break both Charizard and Zapdos as well as hitting Blaziken very hard through Protect via Breakneck Blitz.
* GrassiumZ turns Leaf Blade into a 175-Base Power move, letting Kartana temporarily patch up its weak physical movepool and hit much harder.
* Suffering from a relatively awkward Speed tier, Kartana appreciates a Choice Scarf partner to check faster foes. Kartana's horrible special bulk also highly suggests a bulky partner to take hits. A Fire-resistant Pokemon is also greatly appreciated, as Kartana has a 4x weakness to Fire and is OHKOed even by a physical Fire-type move. Consider Pokemon such as Heatran, Mega Salamence, and Mega Charizard Y.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Sacred Sword
move 3: Smart Strike
move 4: Knock Off / Psycho Cut / Guillotine
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Leaf Blade is the Grass-type STAB option of choice, hitting bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Tapu Fini and Suicune, and common Ground-types such as Mamoswine and Hippowdon.
* Sacred Sword hits Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Stakataka, and Magnezone for super effective damage while also hitting Hydreigon and opposing Kartana.
* Smart Strike is Kartana's strongest Steel-type STAB move, able to OHKO Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu whilst also hitting common Minimize users such as Clefable, Chansey, and Alolan Muk.
* Knock Off hits Aegislash, which would otherwise wall Kartana, while also hitting Psychic-types such as Cresselia and removing important items such as Porygon2's Eviolite.
* Psycho Cut allows Kartana to hit Blaziken, Naganadel, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Gengar harder than any of its other options.
* Guillotine can be used as a fourth move to have a 30% shot of OHKOing a threat, but it's a very high-risk move that should usually only be used in emergencies.
* A Jolly nature is needed to both maximize the use of Choice Scarf and also outspeed other Choice Scarf users such as Tapu Lele, Garchomp, and Blacephalon.
* Kartana appreciates bulky partners such as Porygon2 and Tapu Fini to fall back on, as Kartana can be easily walled depending on what move it is locked into. A Fire-resistant or -immune Pokemon is appreciated, as Kartana sports a 4x Fire-type weakness, which it can't patch up by itself.
Kartana has proven to be a decent physical attacker in the metagame, boasting a huge Attack stat, a good typing, strong Defense, and a decent Speed tier, but it has rather weak move options. Beast Boost goes a long way, only furthering Kartana's already impressive Attack after it gets a KO. Kartana, however, has extremely poor special bulk and is likely to get OHKOed by almost any neutral special move and, in some cases, even resisted moves.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Leaf Blade
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Smart Strike / Knock Off / Night Slash / Psycho Cut / Giga Impact
item: Fightinium Z / Focus Sash / Darkinium Z / Normalium Z / Grassium Z
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Swords Dance allows Kartana to boost its already immense Attack stat to assist in breaking bulkier Pokemon.
* Leaf Blade is Kartana's strongest Grass-type STAB move, hitting bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Tapu Fini whilst also giving it great damage on Ground-type targets such as Mamoswine, Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Hippowdon.
* Sacred Sword is used to hit Hydreigon and Porygon2 for more damage as well as Steel-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Stakataka, Magnezone, and opposing Kartana.
* Smart Strike has great all-around coverage hitting Fairy-, Ice-, and Rock-types and the occasional Minimize Clefable and Alolan Muk.
* Knock Off provides coverage for Aeigslash and hits Psychic-types such as Cresselia harder while removing items. However, in order to OHKO these threats after a boost, Darkinium Z and Night Slash is required instead.
* Psycho Cut hits Blaziken, Mega Gengar, Mega Venusaur, and Breloom.
* The given spread with a Jolly nature is ideal for Kartana to perform the role of a fast wallbreaker, outspeeding Garchomp, non-Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, and Hydreigon.
* Fightinium Z lets Kartana break threats such as Celesteela when at +2 while also OHKOing Porygon2.
* Focus Sash ensures that Kartana can set up Swords Dance especially against dedicated special attackers, as even neutral special moves can threaten to OHKO Kartana.
* Normalium Z and Giga Impact give Kartana the ability to break both Charizard and Zapdos as well as hitting Blaziken very hard through Protect via Breakneck Blitz.
* GrassiumZ turns Leaf Blade into a 175-Base Power move, letting Kartana temporarily patch up its weak physical movepool and hit much harder.
* Suffering from a relatively awkward Speed tier, Kartana appreciates a Choice Scarf partner to check faster foes. Kartana's horrible special bulk also highly suggests a bulky partner to take hits. A Fire-resistant Pokemon is also greatly appreciated, as Kartana has a 4x weakness to Fire and is OHKOed even by a physical Fire-type move. Consider Pokemon such as Heatran, Mega Salamence, and Mega Charizard Y.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Sacred Sword
move 3: Smart Strike
move 4: Knock Off / Psycho Cut / Guillotine
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Leaf Blade is the Grass-type STAB option of choice, hitting bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Tapu Fini and Suicune, and common Ground-types such as Mamoswine and Hippowdon.
* Sacred Sword hits Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Stakataka, and Magnezone for super effective damage while also hitting Hydreigon and opposing Kartana.
* Smart Strike is Kartana's strongest Steel-type STAB move, able to OHKO Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu whilst also hitting common Minimize users such as Clefable, Chansey, and Alolan Muk.
* Knock Off hits Aegislash, which would otherwise wall Kartana, while also hitting Psychic-types such as Cresselia and removing important items such as Porygon2's Eviolite.
* Psycho Cut allows Kartana to hit Blaziken, Naganadel, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Gengar harder than any of its other options.
* Guillotine can be used as a fourth move to have a 30% shot of OHKOing a threat, but it's a very high-risk move that should usually only be used in emergencies.
* A Jolly nature is needed to both maximize the use of Choice Scarf and also outspeed other Choice Scarf users such as Tapu Lele, Garchomp, and Blacephalon.
* Kartana appreciates bulky partners such as Porygon2 and Tapu Fini to fall back on, as Kartana can be easily walled depending on what move it is locked into. A Fire-resistant or -immune Pokemon is appreciated, as Kartana sports a 4x Fire-type weakness, which it can't patch up by itself.
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