[OVERVIEW]
* Kartana has an unrivaled base 181 Attack backed with an incredible base 109 Speed.
* Beast Boost allows it to snowball from KOs.
* Base 59 HP / 131 Defense grants it solid physical bulk, allowing it to take punishment from the likes of Gyarados and Garchomp.
* Its amazing defensive typing leaves it with nine resistances, one immunity, and only two weaknesses.
* It is one of the few viable Grass-type Pokemon.
* Its movepool may be small, but it is very precise and gives Kartana sufficient coverage.
* The combination of these traits allows Kartana to threaten and revenge kill numerous Pokemon and makes it an easy Pokemon to choose in Team Preview. Kartana is also quite easy to fit on teams.
* However, it is somewhat ruined by its paper-thin base 31 Special Defense.
* The Base Power of its attacks is not impressive, balancing out its tremendous Attack stat and making it susceptible to Intimidate.
* Kartana Speed ties can get messy and snowbally.
[SET]
name: Sash Attacker
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Detect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful STAB attack and its strongest attack in general. It is used to threaten a number of Water-, Rock-, and Ground-type Pokemon
* Smart Strike heavily threatens Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Alolan Ninetales, Nihilego, and Mimikyu and allows Kartana to target evasive foes such as Minimize Muk and a Smeargle that picked up an evasion boost from Moody.
* Sacred Sword can threaten Steel- and Normal-type Pokemon such as opposing Kartana, Magnezone, Porygon2, Porygon-Z, Drampa, and Snorlax. It is especially useful against Snorlax, as it slices through Snorlax's attempts to boost its Defense via Curse.
* Kartana is often a high-priority threat, and Detect enables it to save itself from double targets. It also allows Kartana to scout for Fire attacks such as Flamethrower from Celesteela and Fire Fang from Garchomp. Detect is chosen over Protect to minimize the risk of getting affected by Imprison.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Speed allows Kartana to outrun Garchomp and Nihilego while Speed tying with opposing Alolan Ninetales and Kartana.
* Maximum Attack is used to maximize power. However, with such a high base Attack already, it is not a bad idea to cut off some Attack and invest in Special Defense instead. This reduces Kartana's reliance on Focus Sash and makes better use of its amazing defensive typing.
* Focus Sash protects Kartana from a single powerful special attack or Fire- or Fighting-type moves.
Usage Tips
========
* Kartana is best used as a late-game sweeper, when its foes are low on health and are easy pickings for Beast Boost activation. This also allows it to better avoid Intimidates, which are often more prevalent in the early-game, and gives you greater control of its Focus Sash.
* However, its incredible Speed, offensive pressure, and life insurance from Focus Sash also makes it a viable lead, especially if the opponent lacks a Pokemon with Intimidate.
* Try to eliminate Fire-types or put Kartana in a position where Fire-type Pokemon are hesitant to stay in. Pairing it with a Water-type or Rock-type Pokemon helps with this. Kartana can usually threaten the Pokemon that threaten its Water- and Rock-type partner.
* It is not difficult to position Kartana in such a way that it can threaten a foe while the other doesn't threaten it a whole lot. This is a prime opportunity to make a read and catch a switch-in with the appropriate coverage move or switch Kartana back out in anticipation of that switch to maintain momentum.
Team Options
========
* Kartana can fit into teams very easily and is not difficult to support.
* Water-type Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Pelipper, Politoed, Gyarados, and Milotic are strong options to support Kartana, as they can take down Fire-type Pokemon. The Pokemon mentioned here all provide additional utility. Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain blocks status, allowing Kartana to switch into a Scald and not fear getting burned if it has to. Pelipper and Politoed provide rain support to further dissuade the use of Fire-type Pokemon. Keep in mind, however, that Pelipper also commonly holds Focus Sash, creating a conflict with this Kartana set due to Item Clause. Gyarados provides the generally useful Intimidate support, while Milotic deters the use of opposing Intimidate. Tapu Fini, Gyarados, and Pelipper also all resist Fighting, covering Kartana's only other weakness. In return, Kartana can remove the especially troublesome Gastrodon for many of these Water-type Pokemon with Leaf Blade.
* Rock-types such as Nihilego and Gigalith also provide additional coverage against Fire-type Pokemon, while Kartana takes care of Water- and Ground-type Pokemon for them.
* Fire-type Pokemon such as Arcanine and Alolan Marowak appreciate Kartana's ability to remove Water-type Pokemon and support Kartana by checking Celesteela and providing another switch-in to predicted Fire-type attacks.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Night Slash
item: Assault Vest
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 92 HP / 164 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
========
* Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful STAB attack and its strongest attack in general, not counting Giga Impact. It is used to threaten a number of Water-, Rock-, and Ground-type Pokemon.
* Smart Strike heavily threatens Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Alolan Ninetales, Nihilego, and Mimikyu and allows it to reliably hit evasive foes such as Minimize Muk and a Smeargle that picked up an evasion boost from Moody.
* Sacred Sword can threaten Steel- and Normal-type Pokemon such as opposing Kartana, Magnezone, Porygon2, Porygon-Z, Drampa, and Snorlax. It is especially useful against Snorlax, as it slices through Snorlax's attempts to boost its Defense via Curse.
* Night Slash is mostly filler, but it hits Alolan Marowak and Metagross super effectively. These Pokemon can otherwise tank Kartana's attacks with relative ease.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Speed allows Kartana to outrun Garchomp and Nihilego while Speed tying with opposing Alolan Ninetales and Kartana.
* 92 HP allows it to survive Garchomp's Fire Fang and Tectonic Rage. The rest are thrown into Special Defense to maximize the function of this set. For example, Tapu Fini will not 2HKO Kartana with Choice Specs-boosted Moonblast.
* Maximum Special Defense enables Kartana to avoid being 2HKOed by Tapu Koko's Life Orb-boosted Thunderbolt in Electric Terrain 91% of the time. It also enables Kartana to survive two Blizzards from Alolan Ninetales plus two rounds of hail damage. The investment can be lowered, however, should you wish for more physical bulk. The minimum benchmark to look for is surviving Golduck's Hydro Vortex in rain.
* No Attack investment is used because, due to its high base Attack, Kartana is really not getting much mileage out of it anyway. This set needs bulk. However, 52 Attack EVs can be used to guarantee a 2HKO on uninvested Garchomp with Leaf Blade.
Usage Tips
========
* The purpose of Assault Vest Kartana is to make great use of its incredible defensive typing and switch into Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Nihilego, Milotic, and Gastrodon without taking too much damage or getting horribly chunked by a weak special attack. Thus, Assault Vest Kartana finds its home in more balanced or defensively styled teams, as it can now make good use of its resistances.
* Be extra careful of Fire attacks, as Kartana doesn't have Protect or Focus Sash to scout for it, so switch out if your opponent's Pokemon could reasonably be carrying one. Once your opponent deduces that you are running Assault Vest Kartana, they may begin to double-target your Kartana slot to checkmate either the Kartana or its replacement. Make use of Kartana's increased bulk to pivot and bait your opponent into trying to trap you into the aforementioned awkward position.
* Remember that, even with all this Special Defense investment, Kartana's special bulk is still unimpressive, so avoid taking powerful neutral special attacks whenever possible.
Team Options
========
* Water-type Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Pelipper, Politoed, Gyarados, and Milotic are strong options to support Kartana, as they can take down Fire-type Pokemon. The Pokemon mentioned here all provide additional utility. Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain blocks status, allowing Kartana to switch into Scald repeatedly without the fear of getting burned. Pelipper and Politoed provide rain support to further dissuade the use of Fire-type Pokemon, and the combination of rain and Assault Vest actually allows Kartana to survive Fire attacks. Gyarados provides the generally useful Intimidate support, while Milotic deters the use of opposing Intimidate. Tapu Fini, Gyarados, and Pelipper also all resist Fighting, covering Kartana's only other weakness.
* Rock-types such as Nihilego and Gigalith also provide additional coverage against Fire-type Pokemon, while Kartana takes care of Water- and Ground-type Pokemon for them.
* Fire-type Pokemon such as Arcanine and Alolan Marowak appreciate Kartana's ability to remove Water-type Pokemon and support Kartana by checking Celesteela and providing another switch-in to predicted Fire-type attacks.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Swords Dance is a good option because it Kartana gets many opportunities to use it and it can help counteract Intimidates, but Kartana loses a valuable coverage option or Protect.
* Substitute takes advantage of Kartana's great Speed and the fact that it's only often threatened by a single Pokemon on the field. It can be used to scout for Fire moves and heavily punish switches and incorrect targeting. However, Focus Sash is not a suitable item for Substitute Kartana. Figy Berry is a great item to go along with Substitute, replenishing a lot of HP, while Substitute and Kartana's great Speed allows it to activate it with reliability.
* Guillotine can be used as a filler move on the Assault Vest to randomly pick up OHKOs, but it is highly unreliable and Kartana puts out heavy offensive pressure already. Kartana also does not have enough bulk to fire Guillotines repeatedly.
* Razor Leaf is Kartana's only real option of a spread move, but since the Night Slash slot on the Assault Vest set is situational anyway, Razor Leaf can be a viable option despite how weak it is.
* Z-Crystals can boost Kartana's moves to terrifying levels of power and pick up surprising KOs to activate Beast Boost. With Grassium Z, Leaf Blade can OHKO Garchomp, for example.
* Scope Lens increases Leaf Blade and Night Slash's crit chances to 50%. This allows Kartana to pressure opponents while affected by Intimidate.
* Salac Berry can be run with Substitute to make Kartana fast. The lack of priority moves in the format helps here.
* Choice Scarf enables it to outrun Pokemon such as Pheromosa and +1 Gyarados and avoid the dreaded Kartana Speed ties for the most part. However, getting locked into one attack is awful, because none of Kartana's attacks are great to be locked into.
* Life Orb can be used for a general damage boost, but it really makes Kartana vulnerable to special attacks.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fire-type Pokemon**: Arcanine can Intimidate Kartana, Torkoal has massive physical bulk and can tank its attacks for a very long time, and Alolan Marowak resists everything but Night Slash. They can click a Fire-type move to make Kartana disappear.
**Fire-type attacks**: Perhaps more threatening than Fire-type Pokemon are unexpected Fire attacks from foes that Kartana is expected to be able to play against. Flamethrower Alolan Muk and Hidden Power Fire Tapu Koko are examples. Additionally, Flamethrower Celesteela hard counters Kartana.
**Fighting-type Pokemon**: Pheromosa, Buzzwole, and Hariyama can all destroy Kartana with a powerful Fighting-type attack, but they must be wary of its Focus Sash.
**Porygon2**: Porygon2 takes any attack and significantly threatens Kartana with Ice Beam or sets up Trick Room. Keep in mind that Assault Vest Kartana can actually take a few Ice Beams, though.
**Vikavolt**: Vikavolt resists Kartana's STAB attacks and Sacred Sword and takes neutral damage from Night Slash, which is a 4HKO. In return, Vikavolt solidly 2HKOes even the bulkiest Assault Vest Kartana with Bug Buzz.
**Intimidate**: Kartana isn't very strong, and Intimidate heavily hampers its sweeping power. Salamence and Arcanine are especially threatening, as they can OHKO it with Flamethrower.
**Trick Room**: Trick Room turns Kartana's great Speed against it. However, it should be noted that Kartana's defensive capabilities are not bad and it can still function fine under TR.
**Special Attacks**: Unless Kartana is using Assault Vest and/or has significant defensive investment, it'll take a ton from even resisted hits. To give an idea of how frail Kartana is without defensive investment, it is 2HKOed by Life Orb Tapu Koko's Dazzling Gleam.
* Kartana has an unrivaled base 181 Attack backed with an incredible base 109 Speed.
* Beast Boost allows it to snowball from KOs.
* Base 59 HP / 131 Defense grants it solid physical bulk, allowing it to take punishment from the likes of Gyarados and Garchomp.
* Its amazing defensive typing leaves it with nine resistances, one immunity, and only two weaknesses.
* It is one of the few viable Grass-type Pokemon.
* Its movepool may be small, but it is very precise and gives Kartana sufficient coverage.
* The combination of these traits allows Kartana to threaten and revenge kill numerous Pokemon and makes it an easy Pokemon to choose in Team Preview. Kartana is also quite easy to fit on teams.
* However, it is somewhat ruined by its paper-thin base 31 Special Defense.
* The Base Power of its attacks is not impressive, balancing out its tremendous Attack stat and making it susceptible to Intimidate.
* Kartana Speed ties can get messy and snowbally.
[SET]
name: Sash Attacker
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Detect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful STAB attack and its strongest attack in general. It is used to threaten a number of Water-, Rock-, and Ground-type Pokemon
* Smart Strike heavily threatens Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Alolan Ninetales, Nihilego, and Mimikyu and allows Kartana to target evasive foes such as Minimize Muk and a Smeargle that picked up an evasion boost from Moody.
* Sacred Sword can threaten Steel- and Normal-type Pokemon such as opposing Kartana, Magnezone, Porygon2, Porygon-Z, Drampa, and Snorlax. It is especially useful against Snorlax, as it slices through Snorlax's attempts to boost its Defense via Curse.
* Kartana is often a high-priority threat, and Detect enables it to save itself from double targets. It also allows Kartana to scout for Fire attacks such as Flamethrower from Celesteela and Fire Fang from Garchomp. Detect is chosen over Protect to minimize the risk of getting affected by Imprison.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Speed allows Kartana to outrun Garchomp and Nihilego while Speed tying with opposing Alolan Ninetales and Kartana.
* Maximum Attack is used to maximize power. However, with such a high base Attack already, it is not a bad idea to cut off some Attack and invest in Special Defense instead. This reduces Kartana's reliance on Focus Sash and makes better use of its amazing defensive typing.
* Focus Sash protects Kartana from a single powerful special attack or Fire- or Fighting-type moves.
Usage Tips
========
* Kartana is best used as a late-game sweeper, when its foes are low on health and are easy pickings for Beast Boost activation. This also allows it to better avoid Intimidates, which are often more prevalent in the early-game, and gives you greater control of its Focus Sash.
* However, its incredible Speed, offensive pressure, and life insurance from Focus Sash also makes it a viable lead, especially if the opponent lacks a Pokemon with Intimidate.
* Try to eliminate Fire-types or put Kartana in a position where Fire-type Pokemon are hesitant to stay in. Pairing it with a Water-type or Rock-type Pokemon helps with this. Kartana can usually threaten the Pokemon that threaten its Water- and Rock-type partner.
* It is not difficult to position Kartana in such a way that it can threaten a foe while the other doesn't threaten it a whole lot. This is a prime opportunity to make a read and catch a switch-in with the appropriate coverage move or switch Kartana back out in anticipation of that switch to maintain momentum.
Team Options
========
* Kartana can fit into teams very easily and is not difficult to support.
* Water-type Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Pelipper, Politoed, Gyarados, and Milotic are strong options to support Kartana, as they can take down Fire-type Pokemon. The Pokemon mentioned here all provide additional utility. Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain blocks status, allowing Kartana to switch into a Scald and not fear getting burned if it has to. Pelipper and Politoed provide rain support to further dissuade the use of Fire-type Pokemon. Keep in mind, however, that Pelipper also commonly holds Focus Sash, creating a conflict with this Kartana set due to Item Clause. Gyarados provides the generally useful Intimidate support, while Milotic deters the use of opposing Intimidate. Tapu Fini, Gyarados, and Pelipper also all resist Fighting, covering Kartana's only other weakness. In return, Kartana can remove the especially troublesome Gastrodon for many of these Water-type Pokemon with Leaf Blade.
* Rock-types such as Nihilego and Gigalith also provide additional coverage against Fire-type Pokemon, while Kartana takes care of Water- and Ground-type Pokemon for them.
* Fire-type Pokemon such as Arcanine and Alolan Marowak appreciate Kartana's ability to remove Water-type Pokemon and support Kartana by checking Celesteela and providing another switch-in to predicted Fire-type attacks.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Night Slash
item: Assault Vest
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 92 HP / 164 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
========
* Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful STAB attack and its strongest attack in general, not counting Giga Impact. It is used to threaten a number of Water-, Rock-, and Ground-type Pokemon.
* Smart Strike heavily threatens Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Alolan Ninetales, Nihilego, and Mimikyu and allows it to reliably hit evasive foes such as Minimize Muk and a Smeargle that picked up an evasion boost from Moody.
* Sacred Sword can threaten Steel- and Normal-type Pokemon such as opposing Kartana, Magnezone, Porygon2, Porygon-Z, Drampa, and Snorlax. It is especially useful against Snorlax, as it slices through Snorlax's attempts to boost its Defense via Curse.
* Night Slash is mostly filler, but it hits Alolan Marowak and Metagross super effectively. These Pokemon can otherwise tank Kartana's attacks with relative ease.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Speed allows Kartana to outrun Garchomp and Nihilego while Speed tying with opposing Alolan Ninetales and Kartana.
* 92 HP allows it to survive Garchomp's Fire Fang and Tectonic Rage. The rest are thrown into Special Defense to maximize the function of this set. For example, Tapu Fini will not 2HKO Kartana with Choice Specs-boosted Moonblast.
* Maximum Special Defense enables Kartana to avoid being 2HKOed by Tapu Koko's Life Orb-boosted Thunderbolt in Electric Terrain 91% of the time. It also enables Kartana to survive two Blizzards from Alolan Ninetales plus two rounds of hail damage. The investment can be lowered, however, should you wish for more physical bulk. The minimum benchmark to look for is surviving Golduck's Hydro Vortex in rain.
* No Attack investment is used because, due to its high base Attack, Kartana is really not getting much mileage out of it anyway. This set needs bulk. However, 52 Attack EVs can be used to guarantee a 2HKO on uninvested Garchomp with Leaf Blade.
Usage Tips
========
* The purpose of Assault Vest Kartana is to make great use of its incredible defensive typing and switch into Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Nihilego, Milotic, and Gastrodon without taking too much damage or getting horribly chunked by a weak special attack. Thus, Assault Vest Kartana finds its home in more balanced or defensively styled teams, as it can now make good use of its resistances.
* Be extra careful of Fire attacks, as Kartana doesn't have Protect or Focus Sash to scout for it, so switch out if your opponent's Pokemon could reasonably be carrying one. Once your opponent deduces that you are running Assault Vest Kartana, they may begin to double-target your Kartana slot to checkmate either the Kartana or its replacement. Make use of Kartana's increased bulk to pivot and bait your opponent into trying to trap you into the aforementioned awkward position.
* Remember that, even with all this Special Defense investment, Kartana's special bulk is still unimpressive, so avoid taking powerful neutral special attacks whenever possible.
Team Options
========
* Water-type Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Pelipper, Politoed, Gyarados, and Milotic are strong options to support Kartana, as they can take down Fire-type Pokemon. The Pokemon mentioned here all provide additional utility. Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain blocks status, allowing Kartana to switch into Scald repeatedly without the fear of getting burned. Pelipper and Politoed provide rain support to further dissuade the use of Fire-type Pokemon, and the combination of rain and Assault Vest actually allows Kartana to survive Fire attacks. Gyarados provides the generally useful Intimidate support, while Milotic deters the use of opposing Intimidate. Tapu Fini, Gyarados, and Pelipper also all resist Fighting, covering Kartana's only other weakness.
* Rock-types such as Nihilego and Gigalith also provide additional coverage against Fire-type Pokemon, while Kartana takes care of Water- and Ground-type Pokemon for them.
* Fire-type Pokemon such as Arcanine and Alolan Marowak appreciate Kartana's ability to remove Water-type Pokemon and support Kartana by checking Celesteela and providing another switch-in to predicted Fire-type attacks.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Swords Dance is a good option because it Kartana gets many opportunities to use it and it can help counteract Intimidates, but Kartana loses a valuable coverage option or Protect.
* Substitute takes advantage of Kartana's great Speed and the fact that it's only often threatened by a single Pokemon on the field. It can be used to scout for Fire moves and heavily punish switches and incorrect targeting. However, Focus Sash is not a suitable item for Substitute Kartana. Figy Berry is a great item to go along with Substitute, replenishing a lot of HP, while Substitute and Kartana's great Speed allows it to activate it with reliability.
* Guillotine can be used as a filler move on the Assault Vest to randomly pick up OHKOs, but it is highly unreliable and Kartana puts out heavy offensive pressure already. Kartana also does not have enough bulk to fire Guillotines repeatedly.
* Razor Leaf is Kartana's only real option of a spread move, but since the Night Slash slot on the Assault Vest set is situational anyway, Razor Leaf can be a viable option despite how weak it is.
* Z-Crystals can boost Kartana's moves to terrifying levels of power and pick up surprising KOs to activate Beast Boost. With Grassium Z, Leaf Blade can OHKO Garchomp, for example.
* Scope Lens increases Leaf Blade and Night Slash's crit chances to 50%. This allows Kartana to pressure opponents while affected by Intimidate.
* Salac Berry can be run with Substitute to make Kartana fast. The lack of priority moves in the format helps here.
* Choice Scarf enables it to outrun Pokemon such as Pheromosa and +1 Gyarados and avoid the dreaded Kartana Speed ties for the most part. However, getting locked into one attack is awful, because none of Kartana's attacks are great to be locked into.
* Life Orb can be used for a general damage boost, but it really makes Kartana vulnerable to special attacks.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fire-type Pokemon**: Arcanine can Intimidate Kartana, Torkoal has massive physical bulk and can tank its attacks for a very long time, and Alolan Marowak resists everything but Night Slash. They can click a Fire-type move to make Kartana disappear.
**Fire-type attacks**: Perhaps more threatening than Fire-type Pokemon are unexpected Fire attacks from foes that Kartana is expected to be able to play against. Flamethrower Alolan Muk and Hidden Power Fire Tapu Koko are examples. Additionally, Flamethrower Celesteela hard counters Kartana.
**Fighting-type Pokemon**: Pheromosa, Buzzwole, and Hariyama can all destroy Kartana with a powerful Fighting-type attack, but they must be wary of its Focus Sash.
**Porygon2**: Porygon2 takes any attack and significantly threatens Kartana with Ice Beam or sets up Trick Room. Keep in mind that Assault Vest Kartana can actually take a few Ice Beams, though.
**Vikavolt**: Vikavolt resists Kartana's STAB attacks and Sacred Sword and takes neutral damage from Night Slash, which is a 4HKO. In return, Vikavolt solidly 2HKOes even the bulkiest Assault Vest Kartana with Bug Buzz.
**Intimidate**: Kartana isn't very strong, and Intimidate heavily hampers its sweeping power. Salamence and Arcanine are especially threatening, as they can OHKO it with Flamethrower.
**Trick Room**: Trick Room turns Kartana's great Speed against it. However, it should be noted that Kartana's defensive capabilities are not bad and it can still function fine under TR.
**Special Attacks**: Unless Kartana is using Assault Vest and/or has significant defensive investment, it'll take a ton from even resisted hits. To give an idea of how frail Kartana is without defensive investment, it is 2HKOed by Life Orb Tapu Koko's Dazzling Gleam.
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