Alolan Vulpix, Ninetales Discussion

DHR-107

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
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Orange Islands
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Vulpix
Ice
Abilities: Snow Cloak/Snow Warning
HP: 38
Atk: 41
Def: 40
SpAtk: 50
SpDef: 65
Spe: 65
Level Up

Start - Powder Snow
L4 - Tail Whip
L7 - Roar
L9 - Baby-Doll Eyes
L10 - Ice Shard
L12 - Confuse Ray
L15 - Icy Wind
L18 - Payback
L20 - Mist
L23 - Feint Attack
L26 - Hex
L28 - Aurora Beam
L31 - Extrasensory
L34 - Safeguard
L36 - Ice Beam
L39 - Imprison
L42 - Blizzard
L44 - Grudge
L47 - Captivate
L50 - Sheer Cold

TMs

TM05 - Roar
TM06 - Toxic
TM07 - Hail
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM14 - Blizzard
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM32 - Double Team
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM66 - Payback
TM70 - Aurora Veil
TM77 - Psych Up
TM79 - Frost Breath
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM97 - Dark Pulse
TM100 - Confide

Egg moves

Egg - Freeze-Dry
Egg - Hypnosis
Egg - Flail
Egg - Spite
Egg - Disable
Egg - Howl
Egg - Agility
Egg - Encore
Egg - Moonblast
Egg - Power Swap
Egg - Secret Power
Egg - Charm
Egg - Tail Slap
Egg - Extrasensory

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Ninetales
Ice/Fairy
Abilities: Snow Cloak/Snow Warning
73/67/75/81/100/109
HP: 73
Atk: 67
Def: 75
SpAtk: 81
SpDef: 100
Spe: 109
Level Up

Start - Dazzling Gleam
Start - Dazzling Gleam
Start - Imprison
Start - Nasty Plot
Start - Ice Beam
Start - Ice Shard
Start - Confuse Ray
Start - Safeguard

TMs

TM03 - Psyshock
TM04 - Calm Mind
TM05 - Roar
TM06 - Toxic
TM07 - Hail
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM14 - Blizzard
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM32 - Double Team
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM66 - Payback
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM70 - Aurora Veil
TM77 - Psych Up
TM79 - Frost Breath
TM85 - Dream Eater
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM97 - Dark Pulse
TM99 - Dazzling Gleam
TM100 - Confide

Egg moves

Egg - Freeze-Dry
Egg - Hypnosis
Egg - Flail
Egg - Spite
Egg - Disable
Egg - Howl
Egg - Agility
Egg - Encore
Egg - Moonblast
Egg - Power Swap
Egg - Secret Power
Egg - Charm
Egg - Tail Slap
Egg - Extrasensory

There is an error on certain movepool listing which is wrong. These Pokemon do not learn any fire moves. This is backed up by Kaphotics' video here:
 
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Has it been confirmed whether or not they gave hail some kind of innate boost? Without that, it's hard to see hail as worth it just for slush rush and some passive damage. I feel like Alolan Ninetales' viability hinges partially on that.
 
I can see Ninetales-A being a pretty scary threat in BSD and VGC. The support Aurora Veil can provide in Hail will be incredibly valuable, and STAB Blizzard is a decent spread move. Both Sandslash-A and Beartic make for decent abusers of the Slush Rush ability - although they're far from the only viable things to pair with Ninetales-A in Hail, as all kinds of other stuff will appreciate the boost to defenses and 100% accurate Blizzards.

In singles it'll probably be somewhat decent although I think its fairly low Sp. Attack will hold it back, and as Aurora Veil only ever lasts 5 turns (unless there's an item I'm not aware of), its utility is much more limited. 5 turns is much longer in doubles though.

EDIT: Oh cool, Light Clay works with it.
 
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Fizz said:
Has it been confirmed whether or not they gave hail some kind of innate boost? Without that, it's hard to see hail as worth it just for slush rush and some passive damage. I feel like Alolan Ninetales' viability hinges partially on that.
Click to expand...

Nope that can't be data mines with the current method. So we have to wait for someone to test it
 
Fizz said:
Has it been confirmed whether or not they gave hail some kind of innate boost? Without that, it's hard to see hail as worth it just for slush rush and some passive damage. I feel like Alolan Ninetales' viability hinges partially on that.
Click to expand...
You don't think Specs 100% accurate Blizzard with STAB Moonblast coverage + chip damage from Hail with a 109 base speed tier is worth using?
 
Steels are going to be hard to get around though, as its forced to run hidden power Fire or Fighting. Probably fighting.

Well, I guess Dark Pulse would sort of work, but without STAB or hitting a weakness I don't see the point of it.
 
Thanks GF for this newfound Hail setter, which is useful between hail support with chip damage + accurate STAB Blizzards from your team.
Good addition in OU despite the harsh movepool (even worse than Kanto Ninetales!) thanks to the good 109 base Spe.
 
It gets Icy Wind and it traded Attack for Speed to be able to Outspeed Garchomp. The lack of Fire attacks is a nusence though, although Freeze Dry is interesting. Support-Wise it gets Aurora Veil and Encore, so it has some flexibility in its moveset choices.

Plus it's the Strongest Fairy (9) times over. That's gotta account for something?

Edit:
AJC said:
it gets heat wave by egg move.
Click to expand...
Apparently that was an error.
 
Fizz said:
In OU? Honestly, no. Stealth Rock weakness is such a dealbreaker and it doesn't offer enough to overcome that.
Click to expand...
Not in OU, of course, but across all the tiers, I don't see Alolan Ninetales settling down at the bottom. It's a pretty legit Pokemon by itself.
 
So it looks like Ninetales will be choosing between being walled by Fires or Steels.

Ninetales@Life Orb
Timid; 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Snow Warning

Blizzard
Moonblast
Nasty Plot / Hypnosis
HP Fire / HP Ground / Aurora Veil

Dual STABs are a given. In the third slot, you can boost or incapacitate a switch in. The last slot offers either coverage or utility. HP Fire nails ground-neutral steels, but HP Ground covers fire types. Alternatively, Tales can simply Aurora Veil on the switch and let a teammate deal with the newly weakened opposing offense.
 
TheTraininator said:
Not in OU, of course, but across all the tiers, I don't see Alolan Ninetales settling down at the bottom. It's a pretty legit Pokemon by itself.
Click to expand...
Yeah, fair enough. And now that I think about it, it is one of the few mons that resists Weavile's STABs without being weak to Low Kick... It'd just be so cool if hail could legitimately compete with the other weathers. Being tied to the ice typing in addition to the lack of innate boosts hurts it so much, I just hope Aurora Veil and Tales increase its effectiveness.
 
Seems really solid at first glance. Aurora Veil is a wonderful move and Alolan Ninetales looks like it's the most viable user. Aolan formes didn't get much of a stat change but at least Ninetales got a very useful speed boost. Blizzard / Moonblast / Aurora Veil / Nasty Plot could be a decent set for it.
 
TheTraininator said:
You don't think Specs 100% accurate Blizzard with STAB Moonblast coverage + chip damage from Hail with a 109 base speed tier is worth using?
Click to expand...
With a 81 base SpA? Yeah, I do not.


Anyways, this thing could definitely see some use in Battle Spot. Setting up dual screens in a single turn is incredibly helpful in a fast paced format such as BS, plus Stealth Rocks isn't really a thing on 3v3 so there's that too going for it, which is nice.

Snow Warning @ Light Clay
Aurora Veil
Encore
Moonblast/Grudge ( Grudge may sound memetic, but my train of thought is that A-Ninetales has no business on the field once it has set up screens so I can just get a safe switch in to whatever set-up sweeper I have on the back of my team; if it just so happens to 0 the pp of a threating move then that's just a bonus)
Blizzard

This is the set I'd personally run. There'll be next to no reason to use offensive A-Ninetales given how weak it is ( 81 SpA is really low even with Nasty Plot). A support set is what would truly make it shine. Moreover, it's sitting at an awkward speed tier and overall I don't really think the extra speed was worth the SpA drop, plus it has basically non-existent coverage outside of Hidden Power and Freeze-Dry and is screwed up hard by any Steel-type. Basically, Aurora Veil support set or I'm not bothering with this thing.
 
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Corrin said:
With a 81 base SpA? Yeah, I do not.


Anyways, this thing could definitely see some use in Battle Spot. Setting up dual screens in a single turn is incredibly helpful in a fast paced format such as BS, plus Stealth Rocks isn't really a thing on 3v3 so there's that too going for it, which is nice.

Snow Warning @ Light Clay
Aurora Veil
Encore
Moonblast/Grudge ( Grudge may sound memetic, but my train of thought is that A-Ninetales has no business on the field once it has set up screens so I can just get a safe switch in to whatever set-up sweeper I have on the back of my team; if it just so happens to 0 the pp of a threating move then that's just a bonus)
Blizzard

This is the set I'd personally run. There'll be next to no reason to use offensive A-Ninetales given how weak it is ( 81 SpA is really low even with Nasty Plot). A support set is what would truly make it shine. Moreover, it's sitting at an awkward speed tier and overall I don't really think the extra speed was worth the SpA drop, plus it has basically non-existent coverage outside of Hidden Power and Freeze-Dry and is screwed up hard by any Steel-type. Basically, Aurora Veil support set or I'm not bothering with this thing.
Click to expand...

Thats close to what I was thinking, but was thinking of having either Toxic, or Hex over encore, since I was having her teamed up with that New water/poison. Aurora veil with that guys defences will make him neigh unkillable, plys venoshock and hex doing so much extra damage is just a blast.
 
Leader Wallace said:
I can't wait to use it in VGC for Blizzard Spam. Question: Should I go with Glaceon or Froslass as a Snow Cloak abuser?
Click to expand...

It could work but you will foccus alot in ice team, but it's your team decision, could it work!

I think this could be a competitive VGC set
A-Ninetails

Encore // Aurora Veil (I don't not yet if this affect only the foe's or maybe it will affect to own pokemons)
Protect
Moonblast // Dazzling Gleam
Blizzard // Freeze Dry (for water types)
 
Ninetales actually looks like a decent Ice type with supportive capabilities with Aurora Veil, 109 base speed and can also go a offensive route with NP. Hail teams have gained some considerable boosts this gen.
 
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