Overview
########
###########
Physically inclined Choice Scarf
move 1: U-turn
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Extreme Speed / Explosion
move 4: Ice Beam / Blaze Kick
ability: Download
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 252 Atk / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Hasty
Moves
========
Set Details
========
Usage Tips
========
Team Options
========
Choice Band
###########
Fast Choice Band
move 1: U-turn
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Blaze Kick/Extreme Speed
move 4: Explosion / Ice Beam
ability: Download
item: Choice Band
evs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4HP
nature: Hasty
Moves
========
Set Details
========
Usage Tips
========
Team Options
========
Other Options
########
Checks & Counters
########
**Ho-Oh**: Ho-Oh is generally a good check to Genesect because it resists Genesect's STAB options, takes minimal damage from special attacks, can OHKO with Sacred Fire, and can heal off damage with Roost and Regenerator. However, it must be noted that Ho-Oh hates taking a boosted Explosion.
**Reshiram**: Reshiram is in a similar position to Ho-Oh in that it resists Genesects STAB moves, takes little damage from its special attacks, and can obliterate Genesect with STAB Fire moves. Explosion is the only real way for Genesect to do significant damage and it requires self-sacrifice.
**Blaziken**: Blaziken and Mega Blaziken have a 4x resist to Genesect's STAB options, and can use Speed Boost to outspeed Genesect. Blaziken can then proceed to OHKO with Flare Blitz. Blaziken also dislikes a boosted Explosion, but has a resistance to it.
**Bulky Steel Type Pokemon**: No matter Genesect's set, bulky Steel type Pokemon give Genesect trouble. Arceus-Steel tanks every hit save for Sun-Boosted Blaze Kick and Flamethrower, and can status Genesect, restore health with Recover, and even set-up. Dialga is in a similar boat; tanking every hit Genesect can dish-out, and firing back powerful special attacks in return. Jirachi can paralyze Genesect and chip away at the cyborg's health. Aegislash can use Kings Shield and it's Ghost-Stab to win, but hates Genesect's fire Moves. Scizor can revenge-kill Genesect with Bullet Punch, but is melted by Fire moves.
**Burns and Paralysis**: Physical Genesect loathes Burns, as they neuter U-Turn, Iron Head, and Genesect's other physical options. Paralysis shuts Genesect down; Choice Scarf Genesect loses out on its speed tier, and non scarf Genesect becomes easy prey for any powerful attacker.
**Bulky Attackers**: Any powerful attacker which can tank a hit and fire off a powerful unresisted Stab move can survive and get a clean OHKO on Genesect. Zekrom's Bolt Strike and Kyogre's Surf are prime examples of moves that Genesect can never survive, and team support is necessary to get around these Bulkier Pokemon.
########
- Genesect has many great Pokemon qualities, including great defensive typing, respectable offensive typing, an amazing movepool, and awesome base stats, including dual 120 offensive stats, and a nice 99 speed
- Download further boosts Genesect's offensive stats, but is unreliable, sometimes boosting the offensive stat you don't need.
- Genesect is one of, if not the best Choice Scarf abusers in the entire game, with a boosted base speed of 99 letting the cyborg outrun nearly all of the unboosted metagame , including fast and powerful threats like Mewtwo, Mega Mewtwo Y and Darkrai. Genesect even outruns other common Choice Scarf Pokemon like Kyogre and Zekrom. STAB U-turn makes it incredibly easy to bring in a check or counter to whatever Pokemon Genesect is up against.
- With the Steel nerf and introduction of the Fairy typing, Genesect is in an interesting situation. While it could once reliably switch into a Dark or Ghost type attack, now these attacks will do much more damage, making Genesect's defenses seem a lot more frail. However, the introduction of Fairy type Pokemon gives Genesect more of a reason than ever to run Iron Head, being able to get a clean OHKO on Xerneas after a +1 attack boost.
- Genesect also has access to Extreme Speed, and with a +1 attack boost, Physical Scarf Genesect does a minimum of 30% damage to standard Power Herb Xerneas after a Geomancy Boost. This lets the cyborg revenge-kill a boosted Xerneas that is at low health.
- Genesect's greatest power is not it's raw strength, but rather it's ability to easily keep momentum on the side of it's trainer. STAB U-turn allows Genesect to lead, sweep, scout, and more. Every time you see a Genesect use U-turn, prepare yourself, because much like the terminator, it will be back.
###########
Physically inclined Choice Scarf
move 1: U-turn
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Extreme Speed / Explosion
move 4: Ice Beam / Blaze Kick
ability: Download
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 252 Atk / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Hasty
Moves
========
- U-turn is the flagship move. It allows the cyborg to hit pure Psychic, Grass, and Dark types hard, do heavy damage to anything which doesn't resist it, and most importantly, shift momentum in your favor.
- Iron Head allows Genesect to smash Xerneas, Sylveon, and miscellaneous Fairy Pokemon, reliably do damage, and clean late game.
- Extremespeed is the only priority Genesect gets, and works in tandem with Download to pick off weakened foes. A +1 attack-boosted Extreme Speed is very useful in picking off low health Pokemon. Notably, Extreme Speed does at least 30% to 152 HP Xerneas, letting Genesect revenge kill the fairy. Explosion can be used on Genesect instead, to metaphorically nuke one Pokemon into oblivion. With a +1 Attack Download boost, Genesect can OHKO most Ho-Oh sets, and do 50% to bulky Arceus forms, making Explosion a tool for revenge-killing.
- The last move is all about what you want to hit; Ice Beam lets Genesect win against Landorus-T, Rayquaza, and Shaymin-S, but Blaze Kick lets Genesect overcome Steel types such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Forretress.
Set Details
========
- Max Attack is used to hit the hardest physically.
- Max Speed, in conjunction with a Choice Scarf lets Genesect outspeed nearly all of the metagame.
- The last 4 EVs can be dumped into Special Attack, to increase Genesect's Special attacking prowess, or into a defensive stat to increase durability.
- Any Genesect which runs either Blaze Kick, Extreme Speed, or both must be both Shiny and run a Hasty nature.
- Should you not run either of the above two options, you can opt for a Jolly or Naive Nature.
Usage Tips
========
- Use U-Turn to let Genesect zip in and out of the battle. It will do strong damage to Pokemon weak to Bug, like Mega Mewtwo-Y, Darkrai, and Deoxys-A. It also does strong damage to Pokemon with a weaker physical defensive stat, such as Specs/Scarf Kyogre.
- Genesect should be sent in as a revenge killer, lead, or sent in when you predict it's typing will let it survive a hit.
- Ultimately, use Genesect as a momentum-giving tool. U-turn will help with this. Play Genesect well, and you have one hell of a cyborg Scout, Lead, and-all around killing machine.
Team Options
========
- Genesect likes working with Pokemon that can readily abuse rapid switching and momentum gain. Ho-Oh is one of the best examples, being able to use Regenerator to constantly restore its health as Genesect zips in and out with U-turn.
- Palkia is another great example. Palkia's typing and stats lets it find many switch-in opportunities. From there, Palkia can start dealing heavy damage with it's STAB options and great coverage.
- Zekrom is a very neat Pokemon in that it can use Bolt Strike to overcome many Pokemon Genesect can not, such as Bulky Kyogre and Ho-Oh. It can also use Volt Switch to create an atmosphere of constant switching. Zekrom is great if interested in using a Volt-Turn team.
- Sticky Web support is very nice, provided through either Smeargle, Gavantula, or Shuckle. A +2 Speed-boosted Power Herb Xerneas that gets slowed down is able to be revenged killed by a STAB Iron Head.
Choice Band
###########
Fast Choice Band
move 1: U-turn
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Blaze Kick/Extreme Speed
move 4: Explosion / Ice Beam
ability: Download
item: Choice Band
evs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4HP
nature: Hasty
Moves
========
- The premier move is U-Turn, which allows the cyborg to hit pure Psychic, Grass, and Dark types extremely hard, do heavy damage to anything which doesn't resist it, and most importantly, shift momentum in your favor.
- Iron Head allows Genesect to destroy Xerneas, Sylveon, and miscellaneous Fairy type Pokemon. If Genesect is staying in, this will be the move which is used most.
- Blaze Kick lets Genesect deal significant damage to Steel type Pokemon such as Scizor which otherwise will shut the cyborg down.
- Extremespeed now has respectable power which can be boosted even further should Download give a +1 Attack boost.
- Explosion allows Genesect to absolutely nuke an enemy Pokemon, but Ice Beam is an alternative. Ice Beam, despite being a special move, provides great coverage, while letting Genesect abuse +1 SpA Download boosts.
Set Details
========
- Max attack is used so that banded Genesect can hit its very hardest.
- Max speed is still necessary. 99 speed is still above most Ubers, and Genesect needs to be in that speed tier.
- A Hasty nature and Shiny coloring is needed to use Extremespeed and Blaze Kick.
- Final 4 EVs should be put into HP, or SpA if you're running a special move.
Usage Tips
========
- Genesect gets more Attack Power from a Band and can get potential download boosts.
- Unfortunately, it still has difficulty getting outright OKHOs on things that are not weak to its attacks.
- The set is still pretty fast by Ubers standards, but now anything above 99 poses an immediate threat, like flamethrower Mewtwo, something which is outrun with a scarf.
Team Options
========
- Genesect likes working with Pokemon that can readily abuse rapid switching and momentum gain. Ho-Oh is one of the best examples, being able to use Regenerator to constantly restore its health as Genesect zips in and out with U-turn.
- Palkia is another great example. Palkia's typing and stats lets it find many switch-in opportunities. From there, Palkia can start dealing heavy damage with it's STAB options and great coverage.
- Zekrom is a very neat Pokemon in that it can use Bolt Strike to overcome many Pokemon Genesect can not, such as Kyogre and Ho-Oh. It can also use Volt Switch to create an atmosphere of constant switching. Zekrom is great if interested in using a Volt-Turn team.
- Sticky Web support through Smeargle, Gavantula, or Shuckle gives Choice Band Genesect a speed edge, and allows it to outrun and deal damage to many of the same Pokemon that choice scarf Genesect can outrun.
Other Options
########
- Interestingly, Genesect can run a Shift Gear set. This is quite different from other sets because it focuses on staying around to sweep rather than zipping in and out of the battle. Genesect's coverage is lacking though, and it's frail defenses make it hard to stay in. A Hasty nature is mandatory and the evs would be 252 Attack, 252 HP, and 4 Def/SpD.
- A Special Choice Scarf set can also be considered, being able to use the moves of U-Turn, Thunder, Ice Beam, and Genesect's many other special options to hit hard specially. U-turn must remain in order to keep momentum on your side. Here, 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP/ 4 Atk are the preferred evs to maximize KO potential.Remember that due to this set being specially oriented, it has different things that it can get KOs on. Unfortunately, with the widespread nerf of special moves, and the difficulty of outright bringing down Pokemon with this set, Special Scarf Genesect is certainly in decline. New metagame threats like Mega Blaziken and Mega Gengar make it even harder for Special Genesect to stay current.
- Choice Specs is usable, however SpA download boosts are unreliable, and to make matters worse, Genesect not only can't get many outright OHKOs, but is outsped by anything over 99.
- Gensect has a great movepool, but there's not that many other viable moves than what's been listed above.
Checks & Counters
########
**Ho-Oh**: Ho-Oh is generally a good check to Genesect because it resists Genesect's STAB options, takes minimal damage from special attacks, can OHKO with Sacred Fire, and can heal off damage with Roost and Regenerator. However, it must be noted that Ho-Oh hates taking a boosted Explosion.
**Reshiram**: Reshiram is in a similar position to Ho-Oh in that it resists Genesects STAB moves, takes little damage from its special attacks, and can obliterate Genesect with STAB Fire moves. Explosion is the only real way for Genesect to do significant damage and it requires self-sacrifice.
**Blaziken**: Blaziken and Mega Blaziken have a 4x resist to Genesect's STAB options, and can use Speed Boost to outspeed Genesect. Blaziken can then proceed to OHKO with Flare Blitz. Blaziken also dislikes a boosted Explosion, but has a resistance to it.
**Bulky Steel Type Pokemon**: No matter Genesect's set, bulky Steel type Pokemon give Genesect trouble. Arceus-Steel tanks every hit save for Sun-Boosted Blaze Kick and Flamethrower, and can status Genesect, restore health with Recover, and even set-up. Dialga is in a similar boat; tanking every hit Genesect can dish-out, and firing back powerful special attacks in return. Jirachi can paralyze Genesect and chip away at the cyborg's health. Aegislash can use Kings Shield and it's Ghost-Stab to win, but hates Genesect's fire Moves. Scizor can revenge-kill Genesect with Bullet Punch, but is melted by Fire moves.
**Burns and Paralysis**: Physical Genesect loathes Burns, as they neuter U-Turn, Iron Head, and Genesect's other physical options. Paralysis shuts Genesect down; Choice Scarf Genesect loses out on its speed tier, and non scarf Genesect becomes easy prey for any powerful attacker.
**Bulky Attackers**: Any powerful attacker which can tank a hit and fire off a powerful unresisted Stab move can survive and get a clean OHKO on Genesect. Zekrom's Bolt Strike and Kyogre's Surf are prime examples of moves that Genesect can never survive, and team support is necessary to get around these Bulkier Pokemon.
Last edited:
