Almost Any Ability

Analysis written by Quantum Tesseract.
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Tapu Fini

Overview

Tapu Fini's excellent Water / Fairy typing lets it take on common metagame picks like Keldeo, Hydregion, and Weavile. Its good defensive stats let it take most neutral hits and wall multiple Pokemon per match, and a solid support movepool that includes Nature's Madness and Taunt allows it to function in multiple roles. However, Tapu Fini's lack of recovery forces it to use abilities such as Poison Heal to restore health, and its low offenses allow setup sweepers such as Snorlax to take advantage of the defensive set. It also faces competition from other bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Manaphy and Suicune, which makes it reliant on its Fairy typing and movepool to stand out.

Defensive Poison Heal

Set Comments

Moves

Scald is a reliable Water-type STAB move with a 30% burn chance, dissuading physical attackers such as Kartana and allowing Tapu Fini to fish for chip damage, and Protect lets Tapu Fini recover HP with Poison Heal safely and scout for dangerous moves. Nature's Madness removes 50% of the foe's health, allowing Tapu Fini to deal heavy damage to any switch-in. Moonblast is a secondary STAB option to hit Pokemon that resist Water-type attacks such as Dragonite and Mega Gyarados; Taunt is another option that prevents status moves, allowing Tapu Fini to block entry hazards more directly and prevents Pokemon such as Snorlax from setting up on it. Defog clears entry hazards for the team and allows Tapu Fini to switch without being crippled by passive damage. Haze clears stats boosts even through Magic Bounce and Substitute, allowing Tapu Fini to check setup sweepers such as Suicune and Gyarados. Whirlpool traps foes and allows Tapu Fini to wear them down with Nature's Madness, Scald burns, and Whirlpool's own passive damage.

Set Details

Maximum investment in HP and Defense makes Tapu Fini as bulky as possible and allows it to take on physical attackers such as Terrakion and Victini. Toxic Orb is the chosen item to badly poison Tapu Fini and thus activate Poison Heal, which restores 12.5% of Tapu Fini's health every turn while poisoned, makes up for its lacking recovery, and allows Tapu Fini to function as a status absorber.

Usage Tips

In the early-game, pivot Tapu Fini into Pokemon that it walls to gain momentum, and then fire off a Scald or Nature's Madness to cripple the switch-in; because Poison Heal is passive, Tapu Fini doesn't have to waste turns recovering off damage. Protect is a great way to help Tapu Fini regain HP and scout the foe's moves, particularly versus Choiced threats, but be wary of the foe using the free turn to switch, set up, or set entry hazards. Avoid switching Tapu Fini directly into support Pokemon like RegenVest Manaphy or Toxapex until after its Toxic Orb activates, as Knock Off and status will cripple it for the entire match. When possible, keep entry hazards off the field when possible, as Poison Heal recovery is slow; switch Tapu Fini into entry hazard setters that it beats such as Skarmory so it can Defog directly. Haze has very high PP, so use it freely on setup sweepers even if they only have a single boost.

Team Options

As Tapu Fini is reliant on its Toxic Orb to function, slow pivots such as Magearna and Meloetta are handy to bring it in to activate it safely. Electric-type walls such as Volt Absorb Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Landorus-T are useful to prevent threats such as Thundurus from overly taking advantage of Tapu Fini. Steel-type Pokemon such as Skarmory and Doublade also pair well with Tapu Fini; they cover its troublesome weaknesses to Poison- and Grass-type attacks from Pokemon such as Kartana, while Tapu Fini can take on Fire- and Fighting-type Pokemon such as Keldeo and Entei in return. Hazard-weak Pokemon such as Kyurem-B and Alolan Marowak appreciate Tapu Fini removing Stealth Rock with Defog. Tapu Fini is one of the best answers to Mega Gyarados on stall, so Pokemon such as Chansey that Gyarados enjoys setting up on appreciate Tapu Fini's support.

Stallbreaker Poison Heal

Set Comments

Moves

Taunt prevents the foe from using status moves, allowing Tapu Fini to avoid phazing, avoid hazing, prevent recovery, block ability change, and prevent hazards from going up. Scald is a reliable Water-type STAB move with a 30% burn chance, which allows Tapu Fini to better take on physical attackers such as Mega Metagross that can ignore the boosts to Special Defense. Moonblast is a secondary STAB move with extra power and good coverage against Dragon-type Pokemon such as Hydregion but is less spammable thanks to its lack of burn chance. Nature's Madness removes 50% of the foe's health, allowing Tapu Fini wear down even bulky walls such as Chansey and hit switch-ins such as Desolate Land Heatran hard. Calm Mind boosts Tapu Fini's Special Attack and Special Defense, allowing it to deal solid damage with Scald and Moonblast to most targets and potentially sweep. Whirlpool is another option to trap foes and KO them with Nature's Madness; it also deals solid damage every turn to aid in stalling out recovery.

Set Details

52 Speed EVs allow Tapu Fini to outspeed maximum Speed Victini at -1, as well as everything slower such as Suicune and Skarmory; 128 Speed EVs can be run to outrun uninvested base 100 Speed Pokemon such as Mew but comes at the cost of significant bulk. The other EVs are placed in HP and Defense, alongside a Bold nature, to allow Tapu Fini to better take on physical attackers, since it cannot boost that stat. Toxic Orb + Poison Heal restores 12.5% of Tapu Fini's health every turn, allowing it to stay healthy throughout the match and preventing it from being statused.

Usage Tips

Use Scald liberally in the early-game to spread burns to switch-ins such as Xurkitree and Suicune. Switch in on passive Pokemon that Tapu Fini defeats such as Toxapex and Skarmory and proceed to pressure the foe's team, and if you suspect the foe of having a phazing move, use Taunt to keep Tapu Fini's boosts. When possible, Calm Mind on something Tapu Fini forces out such as Buzzwole, as Tapu Fini needs to be near full HP to defeat foes such as Hoopa-U. Despite its primary function, Whirlpool set does not always need to trap; if the foe has a super effective Pokemon such as Thundurus on their team, it is often beneficial to use Nature's Madness to weaken it and then defeat it the second time it comes in. Tapu Fini defeats most other Poison Heal Pokemon, particularly Suicune and Zygarde, and thus can be used to heavily pressure teams that rely on them.

Team Options

Fast offensive Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Genesect and Mega Alakazam appreciate Tapu Fini's ability to take on walls such as Toxapex and Chansey for them, while wallbreakers such as Hoopa-U and Mamoswine pair well with Tapu Fini, as they break down holes and cause switches for Tapu Fini to take advantage of. Pokemon that can remove Desolate Land Fire-types like Heatran and Chandelure, particularly Dugtrio and Tyranitar, are useful to allow Tapu Fini to cleanly sweep, while pivots such as Magearna, Genesect, and Tapu Koko can bring Tapu Fini in on things it beats.

Strategy Comments

Other Options

A Regenerator set is usable to also give Tapu Fini more active recovery and free a moveslot from Protect, but it has to switch out frequently and cannot absorb status. A more offensive spread on the Calm Mind stallbreaker lets Tapu Fini beat some Unaware Pokemon and sweep with fewer required boosts, and greater Speed investment may be run on both sets to outpace Pokemon such as Suicune and Bisharp should the team require it; however, the loss of bulk is highly noticeable. Toxic on the stallbreaker set allows it to cripple Regenerator Pokemon that can pivot out of Whirlpool such as Meloetta but cannot effect Magearna and takes away Tapu Fini's best way to deal damage.

Checks and Counters

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