Pokémon Tapu Koko

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Tapu Koko

Dex #: 785
Types:

Abilities: Electric Surge: Turns the ground into Electric Terrain when the Pokémon enters a battle.

Telepathy: Prevents damage from team-mates during Double and Triple battles​

Base Stats: 70 HP / 115 Atk / 85 Def / 95 SpA / 75 SpD / 130 Spe

Level-Up Moves:

- Electric Terrain
- Brave Bird
- Power Swap
- Mean Look
- Quick Attack
- False Swipe
- Withdraw
- Thunder Shock
8 Spark
14 Shock Wave
20 Screech
26 Charge
32 Wild Charge
38 Mirror Move
43 Nature’s Madness
48 Discharge
53 Agility
58 Electro Ball

TM Moves:

TM01 Work Up
TM04 Calm Mind
TM05 Roar
TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power
TM12 Taunt
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM16 Light Screen
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance
TM19 Roost
TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM24 Thunderbolt
TM25 Thunder
TM27 Return
TM32 Double Team
TM33 Reflect
TM40 Aerial Ace
TM41 Torment
TM42 Facade
TM46 Thief
TM48 Round
TM49 Echoed Voice
TM51 Steel Wing
TM54 False Swipe
TM58 Sky Drop
TM62 Acrobatics
TM68 Giga Impact
TM72 Volt Switch
TM73 Thunder Wave
TM76 Fly
TM77 Psych Up
TM86 Grass Knot
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-turn
TM90 Substitute
TM93 Wild Charge
TM96 Nature Power
TM99 Dazzling Gleam
TM100 Confide

Analysis:

tapu koko sports decent offensive stats with 115 atk and 95 spa, and it's very fast at base 130 speed, making it a difficult threat in SM OU. in addition to these solid stats, tapu koko has the electric surge ability: a unique ability that spawns electric terrain, boosting the power of tapu koko's electric attacks (1.5x). this makes already decently powerful thunderbolts even stronger. tapu koko doesn't just have the typing, stats, and ability to be solid in OU, however; it also has a solid movepool to take advantage of these things. with obvious STAB options like thunderbolt and dazzling gleam and excellent "filler" options (both physical and special) in calm mind, brave bird, u-turn, volt switch, grass knot, taunt, etc., tapu koko will probably prove itself as a key option in SM OU moving forward.

Potential Movesets:

name: Offensive Pivot
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Ice
move 2: Volt Switch
move 3: U-turn
item: Life Orb / Magnet
ability: Electric Surge
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

thunderbolt is your obligatory stab, and hidden power ice is an excellent coverage option for hitting annoying grounds and dragons. volt switch allows you to pivot out while also dishing out massive damage thanks to STAB, electric terrain, and your item. u-turn does less damage, but it allows you to switch out on dugtrio and other electric immune pokemon like excadrill and alolan marowak. other move options include dazzling gleam, hidden power fire, grass knot, brave bird, and/or taunt. hidden power fire hits ferrothorn, magnezone, and excadrill, grass knot hits fat grounds like hippowdon and gastrodon, and brave bird hits fat grasses like tangrowth and mega venusaur. dazzling gleam gets STAB, and it hits dragons harder than hidden power ice. using thunderbolt, dazzling gleam, and hidden power fire together provides excellent coverage if you don't want to run 2 pivot moves. taunt helps with wearing down fat walls like mega venusaur among other things.

name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Roost / Dazzling Gleam / Grass Knot
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Electric Surge
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe

calm mind lets you boost and clean and/or destroy fatmons with ease, changing koko's role. thunderbolt is obligatory STAB, and hidden power fire, hidden power ice, dazzling gleam, and grass not serve the same coverage purposes as explained above. roost gives you more longevity, and it makes it easier to set up calm minds.

PLEASE NOTE: IVs & nature should be changed depending on coverage move for these sets.

edit: these are the sets from the analysis. i replaced the preliminary sets i had here to ensure people are using optimal sets n_n.

Personal Opinion:

tapu koko seems extremely fun. it's super fast and pretty strong, and it has an amazing ability. in ORAS we saw how great certain speedy electrics could be (thundurus-i and mega manectric), and i think that "trend" will continue with tapu koko. since the early trailers that featured this thing i've been extremely excited to see how it'll fare in OU, and now that it's here, i think it'll do really well. i think tapu koko will do well with pheromosa and greninja. it puts a lot of pressure on annoying checks to them like toxapex, mantine, and tapu fini, but it doesn't kill momentum when those inevitably switch out since it has access to volt switch and u-turn. furthermore, tapu koko can form excellent volt-turn cores with the two of them (and genesect).

 

[PShine]

This thread is up! Sweet! I wanna point out that Physical Tapu Koko is viable (Wild Charge/Brave Bird/U-Turn/Roost) and U-Turn should be an option in Special sets, because nothing is immune to it, and everyone will see the Electric spam coming and switch to a Ground-Type

 

[Ash Borer]

Roost / Calm Mind / Tbolt / Hp Ice is pretty nifty. It does the same thing you expect CM Latios or whatever to accomplish, but way faster.

Taunt / Nature's Madness / Tbolt / U-turn is actually a pretty potent stallbreaker. They send in Hippo/Venu/Chansey, you halve their health, they try and recover, you taunt them, then you u-turn out and now you have momentum against stall and one of their key walls is now severely crippled. Of course you risk dying to Venusaur, Hippo, etc. but forcing stall teams to make guesses is usually not in their favour.

 

[PShine]

252 SpA Tapu Koko Hidden Power Fire vs. 112 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Bulu: 112-132 (36.2 - 42.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Tapu Koko Brave Bird vs. 112 HP / 0 Def Tapu Bulu: 214-252 (69.2 - 81.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I'm not sure about how much damage Lele would take from some attacks, but I think we can say Koko can kill the other terrain setters with relative ease. Also, being able to U-Turn/Volt Switch and having that speed is a blessing, giving you opportunity to switch to, say, A-Raichu or Pelipper, and Revenge Kill several things if they are a bit weakened. Overall, the game seems bright for Koko.

 

[boxofkangaroos]

You should probably add Roost on the Calm Mind set. Also I've found Terrain Extender to be a useful item because Calm Mind can waste precious Terrain turns.

 

[Jukain]

I wanted to share this set that I've used a bit with Tapu Koko:

Tapu Koko @ Zap Plate
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def OR 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt
- Volt Switch / U-turn

This is the Tapu Koko I prefer for VoltTurn, specifically with the likes of Genesect and Pheromosa. Essentially, Taunt acts as insurance and a nice method of dealing with balance/stall cores. I can comfortably throw out Thunderbolts and Hidden Power Ices without being worried about losing momentum, Taunt if I think they are going to recover, and then finally Volt Switch out. This does wonders against Chansey in particular because I can set up Stealth Rock and then just chip at Chansey. Thunderbolt + Volt Switch does around 35-40% to Chansey, so with Stealth Rock and Taunt, you are guaranteeing a Chansey at half HP with a switch-in to something that beats it. If their answer to Tapu Koko is anything but Hippo or Regen, this set can do some serious work to their core. Regen mons still have to deal with the momentum into possible strong breaker that you can pull, so it's not necessarily a free road for them either. U-turn is also an option, particularly to help with Dugtrio and Hippo, so I'm not really sure about which one is necessarily the absolute best. However, I do feel that the power Volt Switch offers generally outweighs the benefits of U-turn; it's completely up to your own interpretation what you want to use. I am using Hidden Power Ice because playing against Landorus without it is absolute torture, but you can run Dazzling Gleam if you wish as well.

The reason I'm not running Life Orb is because I don't like using Life Orb Volt Switch. It puts Tapu Koko and makes Volt Switches too consequential to play the long game with VoltTurn, which is how I use this against defensive cores. In general, I'm not a huge fan of Life Orb on Tapu Koko with Volt Switch. It's much more acceptable with coverage-dedicated variants, though I suppose full offense can run Life Orb if it really wants. I haven't personally tested Expert Belt yet, but in theory it seems pretty good for sets that run a second non-Electric attack (i.e. not this one) because the coverage attacks are pretty much exclusively for targets hit super effectively by them. I think Specs is just bad. The freedom to switch between moves with so much speed is a selling point of running such a strong Pokemon, and I generally feel like I'm sacrificing far more than I gain to run Specs.

Supporting the sets posted by Ash Borer btw; I've used both and they're pretty nice, primarily to be used on balances or bulky offenses of course given the pace and design of those particular sets.

 

[Edgar81539]

Pretty much everyone agrees with Taunt, right? I've been using it to lure special walls and cripple them before switching out with Volt Switch. It's such a shame you're forced to switch out against Alolan Marowak, though. Does anyone know of a pokemon with synergy that can take out Marowak?

 

[PShine]

Pretty much everyone agrees with Taunt, right? I've been using it to lure special walls and cripple them before switching out with Volt Switch. It's such a shame you're forced to switch out against Alolan Marowak, though. Does anyone know of a pokemon with synergy that can take out Marowak?

Pelipper. Also, A-Raichu learns Surf, which can be a useful Lure.

 

[PK Gaming]

Based Electric God

If you've used it or encountered it you already know the score; it completely shits on offense on its own and is kind of annoying for balance if you aren't packing SpD grounds. Even then, it can run Grass Knot to fuck them over (though its got a bit of 4MSS). I've been messing around with Shuca berry on the CM set just to screw over those Ground-types. Terrain extender is a good choice for Rain / Electric teams, so definitely slash that into the All Out Attacker set. Get rid of Zap Plate, Expert Belt and especially Choice Specs (giving your opponent an opportunity to play around this is a bad idea).

Add a rain attacker set:

Tapu Koko @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot

Definitely agree with Roost being a great choice on CM sets. You straight up body Aegislash with that set. If this thing manages to stay in standard, I could see Electric-types rising to dominance similar to how Water-types were dominant in Gen V. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Gold Geno]

Just a little theorymoning here, but might Electric Seed Acrobatics Tapu Koko possibly be worth considering?

 

[JackTheGamer]

Just a little theorymoning here, but might Electric Seed Acrobatics Tapu Koko possibly be worth considering?

It would depend on what that lets it live VS what OHKOs/2HKOs it misses out on without LO

 

[Seamus Eso]

I'm having a huge amount of success with a mixed set right now.

Topu Koko @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Brave Bird

Put some attack EVs. Grass Knot or HP Fire as coverage is far more valuable then U-Turn on this set. U-Turn is overrated. Tbolt / HP Ice/ GK/ Brave Bird is better since dazzling gleam doesn't hit anything notable.

 

[JackTheGamer]

Put some attack EVs. Grass Knot or HP Fire as coverage is far more valuable then U-Turn on this set. U-Turn is overrated. Tbolt / HP Ice/ GK/ Brave Bird is better since dazzling gleam doesn't hit anything notable.

U-turn keeps dugtrio from ruining your life, as well as generally keeping ground types from stealing your momentum. Everything you need BB for dies without attack investment. I could definitely see HP ice over gleam, tho.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

This thing is the Quagsire of SuMo - it's a fad that will die off when the playerbase realises it isn't as good as they think it is. Sure Thunderbolt hits hard - everything else is piss weak if it isn't super effective. Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu are better, as they can actually use their respective attacking stat effectively. It's not a bad mon, and I can see it being great in UU, but I think people will cotton on eventually. In the meantime, you still have Thundurus.

 

[Pippleo]

This thing is the Quagsire of SuMo - it's a fad that will die off when the playerbase realises it isn't as good as they think it is. Sure Thunderbolt hits hard - everything else is piss weak if it isn't super effective. Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu are better, as they can actually use their respective attacking stat effectively. It's not a bad mon, and I can see it being great in UU, but I think people will cotton on eventually. In the meantime, you still have Thundurus.

UU?! Tapu Koko is stronger then Thundy, outspeeds common treaths such as Weavile and Tornadus and has a better typing

 

[PShine]

UU?! Tapu Koko is stronger then Thundy, outspeeds common treaths such as Weavile and Tornadus and has a better typing

Also, E-Surge, and a Tailor made partner in the form of A-Raichu.

 

[Photofluid]

This thread is up! Sweet! I wanna point out that Physical Tapu Koko is viable (Wild Charge/Brave Bird/U-Turn/Roost) and U-Turn should be an option in Special sets, because nothing is immune to it, and everyone will see the Electric spam coming and switch to a Ground-Type

In the long run I would even say the physical set may just have better potential, its special set is too heavily restricted by its very average 95 attack.

 

[PShine]

In the long run I would even say the physical set may just have better potential, its special set is too heavily restricted by its very average 95 attack.

Indeed. TBolt packs a punch because of Terrain, but the others will need a boosting item ( Specs, Life Orb, etc) to be effective. In a way, the freedom to use Terrain Extender, and the ability to beat the other Tapus gives the physical set importance.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

UU?! Tapu Koko is stronger then Thundy, outspeeds common treaths such as Weavile and Tornadus and has a better typing

No it isn't. It has a stronger Thunderbolt, but Thundurus hits harder with everything else, so overall the storm cloud is stronger than the guardian deity (at least specially). This thing'll be great in STABmons with Electric Surge boosted Bolt Strike. I think it'll fall out of OU once the hype bubble bursts.

252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 317-374 (76 - 89.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

That's Life Orb, X4 super effective and it doesn't OHKO

 

[Xenavar]

Haven't seen this considered yet so ill open the topic. What about a supreme revenge killer set?

Topu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 HP / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch / U-Turn
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Grass Knot

This has actually won me a few games so far because of how unexpected it is. It destroys Pheromosa, +1 speed dragon dancers and other scarfers since thunderbolt / volt switch in electric terrain and modest still does a considerable amount of damage. Thoughts?

 

[PShine]

Haven't seen this considered yet so ill open the topic. What about a supreme revenge killer set?

Topu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 HP / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Grass Knot

This has actually won me a few games so far because of how unexpected it is. It destroys Pheromosa and +1 speed dragon dancers since thunderbolt / volt switch in electric terrain and modest still does a considerable amount of damage. Thoughts?

I think you should keep U-Turn an option, because if a Ground-Type/Lightning Rod user switches in, you lose quite a bit of momentum. Other than that, it is pretty nice, altough since Koko is already very fast, I don't think it Will see that much use.

 

[Albacore]

ChrystalFalchion just out of curiosity, what have you been using to check Tapu Koko? Because calling it a worse Thundurus is outright insane to me when almost everything in ther tier just dies to it, and the things that don't are incredibly passive and easy to take advnatage of.

Honestly, I would expect Thundurus to drop to UU (and probably be banned to BL) since there's literally no reason to run it over Tapu Koko outside of Prankster Thunder Wave and Ground immunity. Anything Thundurus can beat, Tapu Koko can beat too (bar SpD Exca), and Tapu Koko has way higher speed, more power on the one move you actually want power on, and a better defensive typing. I really don't see why you would ever run Thundurus now unless you really, really need the Ground immunity.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

ChrystalFalchion just out of curiosity, what have you been using to check Tapu Koko? Because calling it a worse Thundurus is outright insane to me when almost everything in ther tier just dies to it, and the things that don't are incredibly passive and easy to take advnatage of.

Honestly, I would expect Thundurus to drop to UU (and probably be banned to BL) since there's literally no reason to run it over Tapu Koko outside of Prankster Thunder Wave and Ground immunity. Anything Thundurus can beat, Tapu Koko can beat too (bar SpD Exca), and Tapu Koko has way higher speed, more power on the one move you actually want power on, and a better defensive typing. I really don't see why you would ever run Thundurus now unless you really, really need the Ground immunity.

Bulky Ground types mostly. Even with HP Ice and Grass Knot it still can't touch most of them.

Thunderous also has Nasty Plot, Taunt and hits harder with its coverage moves, making it harder to wall overall

 

[Seamus Eso]

ChrystalFalchion just out of curiosity, what have you been using to check Tapu Koko? Because calling it a worse Thundurus is outright insane to me when almost everything in ther tier just dies to it, and the things that don't are incredibly passive and easy to take advnatage of.

Honestly, I would expect Thundurus to drop to UU (and probably be banned to BL) since there's literally no reason to run it over Tapu Koko outside of Prankster Thunder Wave and Ground immunity. Anything Thundurus can beat, Tapu Koko can beat too (bar SpD Exca), and Tapu Koko has way higher speed, more power on the one move you actually want power on, and a better defensive typing. I really don't see why you would ever run Thundurus now unless you really, really need the Ground immunity.

Tapu Koko isn't a "better thundurus" but you're overblowing how good it is. Tapu Koko's biggest flaw and an incredibly big one is that it's non electric attacks are piss weak. I'm seeing most people run Dazzling Gleam over HP Ice (God knows why) and with such poor coverage options, it'll struggle against Gliscor, Landorus-T, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, Tyranitar and most Non 4x GKnot weak ground types, while thundurus has the potential to hit them with LO Focus Blast from base 125 SpAtk. It has access to Nasty Plot which makes it far superior in breaking down teams, has the incredible utility of Priority TWave ( Game changing at times ) and has Knock Off and Superpower as options to surprise kill some special walls. The main reason to use Tapu Koko is if your team lacks speed/priority so you need insurance against things like Weavile and Serpeior, as well as having BB for Ammongus and Mega Venu. Ground immunity is just the icing on the cake for Thundurus.

"Expect thund to drop to UU cause Tapu Koko" LOL what a joke

 

[Photofluid]

Tapu Koko isn't a "better thundurus" but you're overblowing how good it is. Tapu Koko's biggest flaw and an incredibly big one is that it's non electric attacks are piss weak. I'm seeing most people run Dazzling Gleam over HP Ice (God knows why) and with such poor coverage options, it'll struggle against Gliscor, Landorus-T, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, Tyranitar and most Non 4x GKnot weak ground types, while thundurus has the potential to hit them with LO Focus Blast from base 125 SpAtk. It has access to Nasty Plot which makes it far superior in breaking down teams, has the incredible utility of Priority TWave ( Game changing at times ) and has Knock Off and Superpower as options to surprise kill some special walls. The main reason to use Tapu Koko is if your team lacks speed/priority so you need insurance against things like Weavile and Serpeior, as well as having BB for Ammongus and Mega Venu. Ground immunity is just the icing on the cake for Thundurus.

"Expect thund to drop to UU cause Tapu Koko" LOL what a joke

I actually think both can drop to UU, it is a bit like amoongus and tangrowth last gen with two pokemon filling a very similar role very effectively but each with its own niche.

Personally I would say tapu's biggest niche over thunderus is its ability as an offensive pivot, due to it being neutral to rocks and a generally superior defensive typing. It is fun to spam powerful thunderbolt but in the long run a wallbreaker with close to non-existing coverage is just not OU material.

It does have some potential elsewhere though, mainly its physical set and its ability to support its team with electric terrain, though we will see how to of that actually follows through.