[OVERVIEW]
Just like the rest of the Ultra Beasts, Kartana hails from a distant universe where balanced stats aren't a thing. Its immediate breaking power is virtually unmatched, with its flagship Choice Band warping the match around it and often forcing hard reads to limit progress. If its raw power wasn't enough, it's supplemented by a superb natural Speed stat and even 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 Choice Scarf. Its Swords Dance variant shapes the tier, as it has no solid defensive counter among its Z-Crystal options, requiring faster revenge killers as counterplay. Additionally, its bulk isn't just for switching in directly; 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, it's bulk is as two dimensional as the paper it's made of. Kartana has the worst special bulk of a fully evolved Pokemon not named Shedinja. There's generally very little that's good about Grass as an offensive type, which Steel does little to help either. There are also plenty of set dependent checks to Kartana, with the strongest examples being Skarmory, Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Mega Scizor.
[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: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful option, often strong enough to just spam against Pokemon that singularly resist it. Smart Strike can bypass some of the 4x resists for a very safe click against chipped teams, OHKOes Clefable and bulky Kyurem-B, and is the strongest option for beating down Magearna and Mega Mawile. Knock Off is Kartana's go-to for confirming progress, as it both hits otherwise counters like Zapdos and Mega Charizard Y for big damage and also removes items like Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and Celesteela's Leftovers to set itself up for later. Sacred Sword is a clean anti-Steel option, immediately threatening Heatran and Ferrothorn and also being the method for 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 Mega Medicham and Garchomp 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 get aggressive with it. In the 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 its important to keep alive against slower wallbreakers where it takes on more of a revenge killer role. In a lot of matchups, Kartana can just make progress every time it enters the field by spamming, though for harder matchups against the likes of Skarmory, it needs to set itself up; all of removing any Rocky Helmets with Knock Off, setting Stealth Rock with a teammate, and chipping Regenerator pivots like Toxapex and Tornadus-T with Leaf Blade and Smart Strike, respectively, are conducive to muscling through. The only cases where you want to hold off on using Kartana is 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 fat teams. Tapu Fini is one of the best supports for Kartana, covering it defensively by handling Fire-types 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 effect. 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 off checks like Tornadus-T, Zapdos, and Mega Latias, while Excadrill shares plenty of checks with Kartana which it can dent with boosted Corkscrew Crash, or on the other hand benefit from 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. 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. Steelium Z is a similar option that, instead of trying to hit Pokemon it couldn't before, like Zapdos, goes all in on grabbing OHKOs earlier, messing up attempts from the likes of Magearna to trade. 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 Roost off damage from Kartana and set up on it, beating it 1v1. 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 is more relevant when pairing them with Protect users to scout what Kartana locks into.
**Fire-types**: Charizard resists most of what Choiced Kartana will go for, 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 but taking less from Knock Off and being able to punish Kartana with Flame Body. Victini has a deathly 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, most consistently with Choice Scarf to not chance any super effective coverage, though it limits Choice Scarf Kartana in what it can do by default.
**Flying-types**: Zapdos is a strong check to Kartana, being able to take Knock Off reasonably well while resisting everything else, being able to wall most Kartana variants defensively and punishing it with Static. Tornadus-T isn't as bulky and takes a lot from Smart Strike, but it can just scout Choice Scarf and heal off damage with Regenerator, and it's of course faster than non-Choice Scarf so 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.
**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/user3.102/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
Just like the rest of the Ultra Beasts, Kartana hails from a distant universe where balanced stats aren't a thing. Its immediate breaking power is virtually unmatched, with its flagship Choice Band warping the match around it and often forcing hard reads to limit progress. If its raw power wasn't enough, it's supplemented by a superb natural Speed stat and even 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 Choice Scarf. Its Swords Dance variant shapes the tier, as it has no solid defensive counter among its Z-Crystal options, requiring faster revenge killers as counterplay. Additionally, its bulk isn't just for switching in directly; 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, it's bulk is as two dimensional as the paper it's made of. Kartana has the worst special bulk of a fully evolved Pokemon not named Shedinja. There's generally very little that's good about Grass as an offensive type, which Steel does little to help either. There are also plenty of set dependent checks to Kartana, with the strongest examples being Skarmory, Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Mega Scizor.
[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: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Leaf Blade is Kartana's most powerful option, often strong enough to just spam against Pokemon that singularly resist it. Smart Strike can bypass some of the 4x resists for a very safe click against chipped teams, OHKOes Clefable and bulky Kyurem-B, and is the strongest option for beating down Magearna and Mega Mawile. Knock Off is Kartana's go-to for confirming progress, as it both hits otherwise counters like Zapdos and Mega Charizard Y for big damage and also removes items like Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and Celesteela's Leftovers to set itself up for later. Sacred Sword is a clean anti-Steel option, immediately threatening Heatran and Ferrothorn and also being the method for 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 Mega Medicham and Garchomp 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 get aggressive with it. In the 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 its important to keep alive against slower wallbreakers where it takes on more of a revenge killer role. In a lot of matchups, Kartana can just make progress every time it enters the field by spamming, though for harder matchups against the likes of Skarmory, it needs to set itself up; all of removing any Rocky Helmets with Knock Off, setting Stealth Rock with a teammate, and chipping Regenerator pivots like Toxapex and Tornadus-T with Leaf Blade and Smart Strike, respectively, are conducive to muscling through. The only cases where you want to hold off on using Kartana is 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 fat teams. Tapu Fini is one of the best supports for Kartana, covering it defensively by handling Fire-types 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 effect. 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 off checks like Tornadus-T, Zapdos, and Mega Latias, while Excadrill shares plenty of checks with Kartana which it can dent with boosted Corkscrew Crash, or on the other hand benefit from 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. 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. Steelium Z is a similar option that, instead of trying to hit Pokemon it couldn't before, like Zapdos, goes all in on grabbing OHKOs earlier, messing up attempts from the likes of Magearna to trade. 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 Roost off damage from Kartana and set up on it, beating it 1v1. 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 is more relevant when pairing them with Protect users to scout what Kartana locks into.
**Fire-types**: Charizard resists most of what Choiced Kartana will go for, 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 but taking less from Knock Off and being able to punish Kartana with Flame Body. Victini has a deathly 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, most consistently with Choice Scarf to not chance any super effective coverage, though it limits Choice Scarf Kartana in what it can do by default.
**Flying-types**: Zapdos is a strong check to Kartana, being able to take Knock Off reasonably well while resisting everything else, being able to wall most Kartana variants defensively and punishing it with Static. Tornadus-T isn't as bulky and takes a lot from Smart Strike, but it can just scout Choice Scarf and heal off damage with Regenerator, and it's of course faster than non-Choice Scarf so 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.
**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/user3.102/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/