Alright so Inteleon was released a few days ago, and as usual I'll do a quick post on some potential sets and roles that Inteleon can fill in the meta. Honestly, Inteleon doesn't seem that bad at first glance. Sure the mono-water typing giving it only one stab sucks, and its stats - while good - aren't setting the world on fire, but Inteleon does have some good traits that make an interesting Pokemon to consider in some builds - particularly with rain support. That mono-water typing actually works to Inteleon's benefit in Convergence, as it gives Inteleon far more in the way of moves than it would if it had a secondary typing. This is especially prescient with Water, as mono-waters are rather abundant in general. What's more, base 125 SpA and base 120 Spe make Inteleon a solid offensive Pokemon to consider on rain builds, as its high speed makes it a rather difficult Pokemon to revenge-kill under rain. It's almost like special Barraskewda, except not as min-maxed. Here are a couple of sets I've cooked up for Inteleon:
Inteleon @ Choice Specs
Ability:
Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
-
Focus Blast
This is your basic rain abuse set. Thanks to the convergence format, Inteleon now packs both a useful ability and actual coverage, making it much more of a threat when the rain is up. You could opt for a more Floatzel-esque set by stacking Water moves (running Surf over Focus Blast for instance), but I wanted to highlight the newfound coverage the Inteleon gets access to here.
Inteleon @ Choice Specs
Ability:
Mega Launcher
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Water Pulse
-
Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
Inteleon @ Choice Specs
Ability:
Protean
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Hydro Pump
-
Boomburst
-
Focus Blast
Here are two takes on a Choice Specs set for Inteleon. The first one is based on Clawitzer, using Inteleon's higher SpA and much higher Speed to function as a threatening breaker. The second set uses Water's access to Protean + Boomburst, turning Inteleon into a strong Boomburst spammer (that has the coverage and threat to back that up). You can certainly play around with some of the move options and tera types here, but I just wanted to get a couple of ideas out there.
Inteleon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability:
Mega Launcher
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-
Nasty Plot
- Water Pulse
-
Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
Nasty Plot is also in the cards for Inteleon, and thanks to its natural high SpA and Spe, one Nasty Plot can turn Inteleon into a devastating late-game cleaner. Again, I chose to base this set on Clawitzer, but you could just as easily run Hydro Pump/Ice Beam/Focus Blast with a different ability as well. Once again Tera type is pretty arbitrary here, but you can never go wrong with STAB tera.
Inteleon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability:
Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
-
Spikes
-
Knock Off
- Hydro Pump
Finally, here's an interesting take on Inteleon that I don't think many people have thought of before. Access to Regenerator through Alomomola, Spikes through Frogadier, and Knock Off through Samurott make Inteleon an interesting fast/bulky pivot. Its naturally high SpA also ensures that can pose some threat with Hydro Pump, but the idea of a fast pivot mon with Regenerator makes it a hard thought to resist. Tera Poison is an interesting idea to turn that Grass weakness around, but other defensive Tera options (including Steel/Fairy/Ground) could be interesting as well.
All-in-all, I think Inteleon could be a very potent offensive addition to the metagame. It seems pretty difficult to wall on paper due to the wide variety of sets it could potentially run, which may make this mon quite the pain in the builder. At the same time however, historically Inteleon has struggled against Water resists, and while it does kind of get some tools around those Pokemon, you'll still need to play Inteleon well in order to truly be able to beat them. Inteleon's frailty and the fact that it's prone to hazard damage (unless you're Regenerator/Boots) can also be a sore spot for it. Over all though, I'm excited to see what Inteleon's effect on the meta is, and in Convergence I think it could truly shine as a good offensive water.