[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 5-7 points
**Overview**: On paper, Decidueye can bring a lot of utility to a draft. It provides valuable resistances and immunities to Ground, Fighting, Water, and Normal. It also has entry hazard control in the form of Defog and a balanced stat spread that can be tailored for offensive or defensive purposes, both physically and specially. Despite all these great qualities, Decidueye faces heavy competition from other Grass / Ghost Pokemon like Sinistcha and Brambleghast that fill a more specialized role. It is also somewhat of a "jack of all trades, master of none" Pokemon, so it often struggles to succeed or come to matchups.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Offensive Breaker**: Decidueye's offensive stats are average, but its offensive movepool is solid and it can use Swords Dance and Nasty Plot to hit from either offensive side. Its poor Speed tier makes it difficult to be a consistent offensive presence, but it can somewhat make up for it with solid priority moves in Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch.
**Defensive Utility**: Decidueye can serve as a great defensive pivot. It does have an unfortunate weakness to Dark, leaving it vulnerable to the ever-present Knock Off, but its key resistances let it serve as a check to several relevant Pokemon such as Terapagos and Palafin. With access to reliable recovery, U-turn, Knock Off, Defog, and more, Decidueye can be customized as a defensive answer to an opponent's threat while supporting its teammates with its utility moves.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm, Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Spirit Shackle, Poltergeist, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Ball
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Defog, U-turn, Roost, Haze, Knock Off
**Coverage**: Air Slash, Brave Bird, Dual Wingbeat, Hurricane, Low Kick, Sucker Punch, Skitter Smack, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Feather Dance**: When Decidueye needs to check a physical threat with setup potential, Feather Dance can be used to ensure that even if it loses the head to head, the threat doesn't remain boosted.
**Tailwind**: Decidueye is a somewhat reliable Tailwind setter thanks to its bulk and resistances, and it can be paired with U-turn to safely switch to a teammate that can take advantage of Tailwind. Decidueye itself could even benefit from Tailwind to patch up its poor Speed.
Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Of all the damage-boosting items, Decidueye most often uses Choice Band to maximize the damage of Poltergeist, making it very difficult for a foe that does not resist Ghost to switch into. Choice Band also has the benefit of maximizing the damage of its priority moves to overcome its low Speed.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: As Decidueye is often used as a defensive pivot, Heavy-Duty Boots is very useful to avoid being worn down by entry hazards. Offensive Swords Dance variants can also utilize Heavy-Duty Boots for an easier time entering the field.
**Resistance Berries**: Decidueye most often uses Colbur Berry to halve the damage of Knock Off, but all relevant resistance Berries see use. These are particularly useful when it is intended to act as a spinblocker, as they can ensure that it can survive if the foe predicts it switching in to block Rapid Spin.
Niche Items
========
**Damage-boosting Items**: Other damage-boosting items such as Spell Tag, Expert Belt, and Choice Specs can all be used on Decidueye to boost its damage output as needed.
**Choice Scarf**: Decidueye's Speed is low, so a Choice Scarf can be used to patch it up while potentially catching the opponent off guard. It is too slow to make consistent use of Choice Scarf, but it can be a useful surprise option to outspeed unboosted foes.
**Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet is useful to chip physical attackers that Decidueye answers defensively.
**Sitrus Berry**: Sitrus Berry is useful to give Decidueye an immediate burst of health, as it is often too slow to get a Roost off if it is weakened.
Tera
========
Decidueye doesn't need Tera to function, as most of its value comes from its natural typing, but it can still benefit from the mechanic. It's often not the first choice for a secondary Tera Captain, but drafts with a top-tier Tera Captain may consider it as a budget secondary option. Decidueye can use defensive Tera types such as Tera Water, Fairy, and Steel to shed its weaknesses, Tera Ghost to significantly boost its damage output, or Tera Fire, Electric, and Ground to gain additional useful coverage.
Draft Strategy
========
When a draft considers Decidueye, the first question it must ask itself is: "why not Sinistcha or Brambleghast?" Usually, it's because those Pokemon are either already taken or unaffordable.
**Ground-, Fighting-, and Water-weak Teammates**: Decidueye compresses several valuable resistances into one Pokemon, so it's particularly valuable for teams that need some more backbone to protect against high-tier threats such as Great Tusk, Ogerpon-W, and Quaquaval. Decidueye often cannot fully counter any of these Pokemon due to its large amount of weaknesses, but it can at least make their job more difficult.
**Strong Entry Hazard Setters**: Decidueye can serve as a solid spinbocker, so it likes being paired with reliable entry hazard setters such as Ting-Lu, Glimmora, and Gliscor. It's worth mentioning that when it is being used as a spinblocker, it shouldn't have Defog on its moveset.
**Entry Hazard-weak Teammates**: Decidueye can be a decent entry hazard control option for teams that have high-tier Pokemon that are vulnerable to entry hazards such as Gouging Fire, Dragonite, and Chi-Yu.
Checks and Counters
========
**Flying-, Fire-, Dark-, and Ice-types**: Not only is Decidueye weak to all of the aforementioned types, it struggles to hit them offensively too. Its poor Speed makes the issue even worse, as most Pokemon of these types can outspeed it and threaten it into switching out.
**Knock Off**: Unfortunately, being slow and weak to Knock Off is a very rough combination for a defensive Pokemon. Many Pokemon that Decidueye would otherwise check can threaten it with Knock Off, hampering its consistency.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scribble.356084/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 5-7 points
**Overview**: On paper, Decidueye can bring a lot of utility to a draft. It provides valuable resistances and immunities to Ground, Fighting, Water, and Normal. It also has entry hazard control in the form of Defog and a balanced stat spread that can be tailored for offensive or defensive purposes, both physically and specially. Despite all these great qualities, Decidueye faces heavy competition from other Grass / Ghost Pokemon like Sinistcha and Brambleghast that fill a more specialized role. It is also somewhat of a "jack of all trades, master of none" Pokemon, so it often struggles to succeed or come to matchups.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Offensive Breaker**: Decidueye's offensive stats are average, but its offensive movepool is solid and it can use Swords Dance and Nasty Plot to hit from either offensive side. Its poor Speed tier makes it difficult to be a consistent offensive presence, but it can somewhat make up for it with solid priority moves in Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch.
**Defensive Utility**: Decidueye can serve as a great defensive pivot. It does have an unfortunate weakness to Dark, leaving it vulnerable to the ever-present Knock Off, but its key resistances let it serve as a check to several relevant Pokemon such as Terapagos and Palafin. With access to reliable recovery, U-turn, Knock Off, Defog, and more, Decidueye can be customized as a defensive answer to an opponent's threat while supporting its teammates with its utility moves.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm, Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Spirit Shackle, Poltergeist, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Ball
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Defog, U-turn, Roost, Haze, Knock Off
**Coverage**: Air Slash, Brave Bird, Dual Wingbeat, Hurricane, Low Kick, Sucker Punch, Skitter Smack, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Feather Dance**: When Decidueye needs to check a physical threat with setup potential, Feather Dance can be used to ensure that even if it loses the head to head, the threat doesn't remain boosted.
**Tailwind**: Decidueye is a somewhat reliable Tailwind setter thanks to its bulk and resistances, and it can be paired with U-turn to safely switch to a teammate that can take advantage of Tailwind. Decidueye itself could even benefit from Tailwind to patch up its poor Speed.
Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Of all the damage-boosting items, Decidueye most often uses Choice Band to maximize the damage of Poltergeist, making it very difficult for a foe that does not resist Ghost to switch into. Choice Band also has the benefit of maximizing the damage of its priority moves to overcome its low Speed.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: As Decidueye is often used as a defensive pivot, Heavy-Duty Boots is very useful to avoid being worn down by entry hazards. Offensive Swords Dance variants can also utilize Heavy-Duty Boots for an easier time entering the field.
**Resistance Berries**: Decidueye most often uses Colbur Berry to halve the damage of Knock Off, but all relevant resistance Berries see use. These are particularly useful when it is intended to act as a spinblocker, as they can ensure that it can survive if the foe predicts it switching in to block Rapid Spin.
Niche Items
========
**Damage-boosting Items**: Other damage-boosting items such as Spell Tag, Expert Belt, and Choice Specs can all be used on Decidueye to boost its damage output as needed.
**Choice Scarf**: Decidueye's Speed is low, so a Choice Scarf can be used to patch it up while potentially catching the opponent off guard. It is too slow to make consistent use of Choice Scarf, but it can be a useful surprise option to outspeed unboosted foes.
**Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet is useful to chip physical attackers that Decidueye answers defensively.
**Sitrus Berry**: Sitrus Berry is useful to give Decidueye an immediate burst of health, as it is often too slow to get a Roost off if it is weakened.
Tera
========
Decidueye doesn't need Tera to function, as most of its value comes from its natural typing, but it can still benefit from the mechanic. It's often not the first choice for a secondary Tera Captain, but drafts with a top-tier Tera Captain may consider it as a budget secondary option. Decidueye can use defensive Tera types such as Tera Water, Fairy, and Steel to shed its weaknesses, Tera Ghost to significantly boost its damage output, or Tera Fire, Electric, and Ground to gain additional useful coverage.
Draft Strategy
========
When a draft considers Decidueye, the first question it must ask itself is
**Ground-, Fighting-, and Water-weak Teammates**: Decidueye compresses several valuable resistances into one Pokemon, so it's particularly valuable for teams that need some more backbone to protect against high-tier threats such as Great Tusk, Ogerpon-W, and Quaquaval. Decidueye often cannot fully counter any of these Pokemon due to its large amount of weaknesses, but it can at least make their job more difficult.
**Strong Entry Hazard Setters**: Decidueye can serve as a solid spinbocker, so it likes being paired with reliable entry hazard setters such as Ting-Lu, Glimmora, and Gliscor. It's worth mentioning that when it is being used as a spinblocker, it shouldn't have Defog on its moveset.
**Entry Hazard-weak Teammates**: Decidueye can be a decent entry hazard control option for teams that have high-tier Pokemon that are vulnerable to entry hazards such as Gouging Fire, Dragonite, and Chi-Yu.
Checks and Counters
========
**Flying-, Fire-, Dark-, and Ice-types**: Not only is Decidueye weak to all of the aforementioned types, it struggles to hit them offensively too. Its poor Speed makes the issue even worse, as most Pokemon of these types can outspeed it and threaten it into switching out.
**Knock Off**: Unfortunately, being slow and weak to Knock Off is a very rough combination for a defensive Pokemon. Many Pokemon that Decidueye would otherwise check can threaten it with Knock Off, hampering its consistency.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scribble.356084/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
