[OVERVIEW]
Just like the rest of the Ultra Beasts, Kartana hails from a distant universe where balanced stats aren't a thing. Its flagship Choice Band set warps the match around its virtually unmatched immediate wallbreaking power, often forcing hard reads to limit progress. That raw power is supplemented by a superb natural Speed stat and well above-average physical bulk to give it significantly more entry opportunities than other wallbreakers and plenty of targets to revenge kill. If that wasn't enough, Kartana has Beast Boost to naturally punish sacrifices and efficiently clean games with a Choice Scarf. Its Swords Dance variant shapes the metagame’s Speed tiers, as there are very few defensive counters to all of its Z-Crystal options at once, requiring faster revenge killers as counterplay. Additionally, its physical bulk isn't just useful for switching directly into attacks; with access to Synthesis + Defog, Kartana is a strong Defog option on sun teams to counter Stealth Rock Garchomp and Landorus-T. While it looks perfect from the front, its bulk is as two-dimensional as the paper it's modeled on; Kartana has the worst special bulk of a fully evolved Pokemon not named Shedinja. Additionally, there's generally very little that's good about Grass as an offensive type due to the litany of common Grass-resistant Pokemon and unimpressive spread of super effective targets; Steel does little to help either, forcing Kartana to rely on its non-STAB moves. There are also plenty of set-dependent checks to Kartana, with options like Skarmory, Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Mega Scizor answering several Kartana variants.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Sacred Sword
item: Choice Band
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful option, often strong enough to spam even against Pokemon that 2x resist it. Smart Strike OHKOes Clefable and Kyurem-B from full HP, OHKOes Tornadus-T after Stealth Rock, is Kartana's strongest option for beating down Magearna and Mega Mawile, and can bypass some 4x Grass-resistant Pokemon for a very safe option against chipped foes. Knock Off is Kartana's go-to move for guaranteeing progress, as it both hits would-be counters like Zapdos and Mega Charizard Y for big damage and removes items like Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and Celesteela's Leftovers to set itself up for later. Sacred Sword is a clean option against Steel-types, immediately threatening Heatran and Ferrothorn and also breaking down the best Kartana checks like Mega Scizor and Skarmory after preparation.
Set Details
========
Jolly is the preferred nature due to certain crucial Speed tiers, such as Garchomp and Mega Medicham, that would be lost out on with Adamant. It's not like Choice Band Kartana needs extra power anyway.
Usage Tips
========
Choice Band Kartana is in a unique spot as a wallbreaker, where it has the OHKO rolls, bulk, and Speed to switch directly into so many things that it would be nonsense not to use it aggressively. Early-game, it's fine to just hard switch Kartana in against physical attackers like Garchomp and Landorus-T and throw off Leaf Blade and Knock Off, though against slower wallbreakers where it takes on more of a revenge killer role, it's important to play it safer and not sacrifice it. In a lot of matchups, Kartana can make progress every time it enters the field just by spamming attacks, though for matchups against sturdier checks like Skarmory, it needs to set itself up. Removing any Rocky Helmets with Knock Off and chipping Regenerator pivots like Toxapex and Tornadus-T with Leaf Blade and Smart Strike, respectively, are conducive to muscling through opposing teams. Having Stealth Rock up is a big part of this plan, as it deals chip damage to Regenerator pivots, invalidates certain Flying-type checks like Zapdos, and creates some 2HKO opportunities such as Sacred Sword against Mega Scizor. The only cases where you want to hold off on using Kartana are when facing contact ability users like Zapdos and Volcarona, though this can be remedied by Misty Terrain support.
Team Options
========
Choice Band Kartana fits on a wide variety of teams; it can slot onto typical offense and bulky offense teams interchangeably with its other sets, but it really excels on more balanced teams, including sand teams as well as more traditional defensive teams. Tapu Fini is one of the best partners for Kartana, supporting it defensively by handling Fire- and Fighting-types as well as special revenge killers like Greninja; most importantly, though, its Misty Terrain allows Kartana to safely take Scald from defensive Pokemon and removes the risk of Static from Zapdos and Flame Body from Volcarona. Bulky pivots like Tornadus-T, Zapdos, and Magearna are great support for maximizing Kartana's effectiveness. Kartana works incredibly well on sand teams, working as a crucial revenge killer to alleviate their generally poor Speed control outside of sand. Mega Tyranitar's Pursuit support can force progress against checks like Tornadus-T, Zapdos, and Mega Latias, while Excadrill shares plenty of checks with Kartana, which it can either dent with boosted Corkscrew Crash or clean up after Kartana's wallbreaking.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Swords Dance + Synthesis can be used as a semi-bulky wincon, though with only two attacks it has trouble covering defensive checks. Choice Band Kartana can drop Smart Strike for Frustration to break Zapdos and bulky Volcarona better, though it is a downgrade outside of specific matchups and can make Kartana more clunky late-game by removing a main cleaning tool. Darkinium Z can hit neutral targets hard while not requiring an otherwise-useless move in Giga Impact, though it has quite a low Base Power compared to other options and can miss OHKOs. Life Orb has seen usage on hyper offense teams to give it some better KO ranges alongside Swords Dance, leaving the Z-Move slot for a teammate.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Skarmory can wall most of what Kartana wants to do, getting incremental chip against it with Rocky Helmet, using it to set Spikes freely, and threatening to OHKO it back with Counter. Mega Scizor can just heal off damage from Kartana with Roost and set up on it, beating it one-on-one. These two do need to worry about +2 All-Out Pummelling after Stealth Rock, though, and Kartana has opportunities to break with Choice Band Sacred Sword after some chip. Other Steel-types can come in to predict Kartana, with Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Heatran being able to shrug off Leaf Blade but obviously getting blown back with a wrong prediction. This prediction reliance is exacerbated when they are paired with Protect to scout what Kartana locks into. Bulky Magearna can serve as a perfectly fine stopgap against Choice Scarf and Utility Kartana sets if needed thanks to its valuable resistances; however, it lacks the resistances and bulk to handle Choice Band and Fightinium Z sets.
**Fire-types**: Charizard resists most of what Kartana will go for with its Choice item sets, though it takes a heavy amount from Choice Band Knock Off and loses to Breakneck Blitz. Bulky Z-Move Volcarona is even more solid, having a similar defensive profile while taking less from Knock Off and being able to punish Kartana with Flame Body. Victini has a fatal weakness to Knock Off, but if it gets the prediction right, it can handle the rest of Kartana's moves, and it can revenge kill with Choice Scarf against non-Choice Scarf Kartana.
**Magnezone**: Magnezone forcibly removes Kartana from the game with its Magnet Pull ability, most consistently with Choice Scarf to not risk any super effective coverage, though its presence also limits what Choice Scarf Kartana can lock into.
**Flying-types**: Zapdos is a strong check to Kartana, being able to take Knock Off reasonably well while resisting everything else, which allows it to wall most Kartana variants defensively and punish them with Static. Tornadus-T isn't as bulky and takes a lot from Smart Strike, but it can scout for Choice Scarf and heal off the damage with Regenerator, and because it's faster than non-Choice Scarf, it can threaten it out with an OHKO. Roost Dragonite is a nice answer to Kartana, though it can't take repeated Choice Band Smart Strikes. However, all of the aforementioned Flying-types are vulnerable to Breakneck Blitz from Swords Dance Kartana. Rocky Helmet Landorus-T can be a huge pain to Choice Scarf Kartana and even come into certain attacks against Choice Band; while not being able to hit hard with Earthquake, it can potentially have Hidden Power Fire to cleanly take out Kartana.
**Faster Revenge Killers**: Although Kartana is generally one of the fastest Choice Scarf users in the tier, non-Choice Scarf Kartana can be pressured out by a multitude of faster attackers, especially special attackers like Greninja, Tapu Koko, Mega Latias, and Mega Diancie.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/skypenguin.462413/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ego.242745/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sunny.197240/
Just like the rest of the Ultra Beasts, Kartana hails from a distant universe where balanced stats aren't a thing. Its flagship Choice Band set warps the match around its virtually unmatched immediate wallbreaking power, often forcing hard reads to limit progress. That raw power is supplemented by a superb natural Speed stat and well above-average physical bulk to give it significantly more entry opportunities than other wallbreakers and plenty of targets to revenge kill. If that wasn't enough, Kartana has Beast Boost to naturally punish sacrifices and efficiently clean games with a Choice Scarf. Its Swords Dance variant shapes the metagame’s Speed tiers, as there are very few defensive counters to all of its Z-Crystal options at once, requiring faster revenge killers as counterplay. Additionally, its physical bulk isn't just useful for switching directly into attacks; with access to Synthesis + Defog, Kartana is a strong Defog option on sun teams to counter Stealth Rock Garchomp and Landorus-T. While it looks perfect from the front, its bulk is as two-dimensional as the paper it's modeled on; Kartana has the worst special bulk of a fully evolved Pokemon not named Shedinja. Additionally, there's generally very little that's good about Grass as an offensive type due to the litany of common Grass-resistant Pokemon and unimpressive spread of super effective targets; Steel does little to help either, forcing Kartana to rely on its non-STAB moves. There are also plenty of set-dependent checks to Kartana, with options like Skarmory, Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Mega Scizor answering several Kartana variants.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Sacred Sword
item: Choice Band
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful option, often strong enough to spam even against Pokemon that 2x resist it. Smart Strike OHKOes Clefable and Kyurem-B from full HP, OHKOes Tornadus-T after Stealth Rock, is Kartana's strongest option for beating down Magearna and Mega Mawile, and can bypass some 4x Grass-resistant Pokemon for a very safe option against chipped foes. Knock Off is Kartana's go-to move for guaranteeing progress, as it both hits would-be counters like Zapdos and Mega Charizard Y for big damage and removes items like Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and Celesteela's Leftovers to set itself up for later. Sacred Sword is a clean option against Steel-types, immediately threatening Heatran and Ferrothorn and also breaking down the best Kartana checks like Mega Scizor and Skarmory after preparation.
Set Details
========
Jolly is the preferred nature due to certain crucial Speed tiers, such as Garchomp and Mega Medicham, that would be lost out on with Adamant. It's not like Choice Band Kartana needs extra power anyway.
Usage Tips
========
Choice Band Kartana is in a unique spot as a wallbreaker, where it has the OHKO rolls, bulk, and Speed to switch directly into so many things that it would be nonsense not to use it aggressively. Early-game, it's fine to just hard switch Kartana in against physical attackers like Garchomp and Landorus-T and throw off Leaf Blade and Knock Off, though against slower wallbreakers where it takes on more of a revenge killer role, it's important to play it safer and not sacrifice it. In a lot of matchups, Kartana can make progress every time it enters the field just by spamming attacks, though for matchups against sturdier checks like Skarmory, it needs to set itself up. Removing any Rocky Helmets with Knock Off and chipping Regenerator pivots like Toxapex and Tornadus-T with Leaf Blade and Smart Strike, respectively, are conducive to muscling through opposing teams. Having Stealth Rock up is a big part of this plan, as it deals chip damage to Regenerator pivots, invalidates certain Flying-type checks like Zapdos, and creates some 2HKO opportunities such as Sacred Sword against Mega Scizor. The only cases where you want to hold off on using Kartana are when facing contact ability users like Zapdos and Volcarona, though this can be remedied by Misty Terrain support.
Team Options
========
Choice Band Kartana fits on a wide variety of teams; it can slot onto typical offense and bulky offense teams interchangeably with its other sets, but it really excels on more balanced teams, including sand teams as well as more traditional defensive teams. Tapu Fini is one of the best partners for Kartana, supporting it defensively by handling Fire- and Fighting-types as well as special revenge killers like Greninja; most importantly, though, its Misty Terrain allows Kartana to safely take Scald from defensive Pokemon and removes the risk of Static from Zapdos and Flame Body from Volcarona. Bulky pivots like Tornadus-T, Zapdos, and Magearna are great support for maximizing Kartana's effectiveness. Kartana works incredibly well on sand teams, working as a crucial revenge killer to alleviate their generally poor Speed control outside of sand. Mega Tyranitar's Pursuit support can force progress against checks like Tornadus-T, Zapdos, and Mega Latias, while Excadrill shares plenty of checks with Kartana, which it can either dent with boosted Corkscrew Crash or clean up after Kartana's wallbreaking.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Swords Dance + Synthesis can be used as a semi-bulky wincon, though with only two attacks it has trouble covering defensive checks. Choice Band Kartana can drop Smart Strike for Frustration to break Zapdos and bulky Volcarona better, though it is a downgrade outside of specific matchups and can make Kartana more clunky late-game by removing a main cleaning tool. Darkinium Z can hit neutral targets hard while not requiring an otherwise-useless move in Giga Impact, though it has quite a low Base Power compared to other options and can miss OHKOs. Life Orb has seen usage on hyper offense teams to give it some better KO ranges alongside Swords Dance, leaving the Z-Move slot for a teammate.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Skarmory can wall most of what Kartana wants to do, getting incremental chip against it with Rocky Helmet, using it to set Spikes freely, and threatening to OHKO it back with Counter. Mega Scizor can just heal off damage from Kartana with Roost and set up on it, beating it one-on-one. These two do need to worry about +2 All-Out Pummelling after Stealth Rock, though, and Kartana has opportunities to break with Choice Band Sacred Sword after some chip. Other Steel-types can come in to predict Kartana, with Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Heatran being able to shrug off Leaf Blade but obviously getting blown back with a wrong prediction. This prediction reliance is exacerbated when they are paired with Protect to scout what Kartana locks into. Bulky Magearna can serve as a perfectly fine stopgap against Choice Scarf and Utility Kartana sets if needed thanks to its valuable resistances; however, it lacks the resistances and bulk to handle Choice Band and Fightinium Z sets.
**Fire-types**: Charizard resists most of what Kartana will go for with its Choice item sets, though it takes a heavy amount from Choice Band Knock Off and loses to Breakneck Blitz. Bulky Z-Move Volcarona is even more solid, having a similar defensive profile while taking less from Knock Off and being able to punish Kartana with Flame Body. Victini has a fatal weakness to Knock Off, but if it gets the prediction right, it can handle the rest of Kartana's moves, and it can revenge kill with Choice Scarf against non-Choice Scarf Kartana.
**Magnezone**: Magnezone forcibly removes Kartana from the game with its Magnet Pull ability, most consistently with Choice Scarf to not risk any super effective coverage, though its presence also limits what Choice Scarf Kartana can lock into.
**Flying-types**: Zapdos is a strong check to Kartana, being able to take Knock Off reasonably well while resisting everything else, which allows it to wall most Kartana variants defensively and punish them with Static. Tornadus-T isn't as bulky and takes a lot from Smart Strike, but it can scout for Choice Scarf and heal off the damage with Regenerator, and because it's faster than non-Choice Scarf, it can threaten it out with an OHKO. Roost Dragonite is a nice answer to Kartana, though it can't take repeated Choice Band Smart Strikes. However, all of the aforementioned Flying-types are vulnerable to Breakneck Blitz from Swords Dance Kartana. Rocky Helmet Landorus-T can be a huge pain to Choice Scarf Kartana and even come into certain attacks against Choice Band; while not being able to hit hard with Earthquake, it can potentially have Hidden Power Fire to cleanly take out Kartana.
**Faster Revenge Killers**: Although Kartana is generally one of the fastest Choice Scarf users in the tier, non-Choice Scarf Kartana can be pressured out by a multitude of faster attackers, especially special attackers like Greninja, Tapu Koko, Mega Latias, and Mega Diancie.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/skypenguin.462413/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ego.242745/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sunny.197240/
Last edited:
