Gardevoir
QC: PK Gaming
[OVERVIEW]
- Gardevoir is a truly unique pokémon, being the only offensive user of Trace, letting her check weather sweepers effectively.
- However, due to the banning of Drizzle / Swift Swim teams and Jolly Excadrill always outspeeding her without a Scarf in Sandstorm, her potential is somewhat wasted in the current OU metagame.
- Of course, Gardevoir still has an impressive movepool, can abuse Trace pretty well, and has decent stats to work with, so not all is lost.
Name: Choice Scarf
Move 1: Psychic
Move 2: Thunderbolt
Move 3: Focus Blast
Move 4: Trick / Destiny Bond
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Gardevoir on the offensive can be something scary for weather teams. She can outspeed and OHKO a lot of Swift Swimmers with Thunderbolt, but unfortunately lacks the power to kill Kingdra and Ludicolo outright. Psychic is for STAB and utility against the increasing number of Fighting types this gen, and it also hits the Chlorophyll abusing Venusaur hard.
- Focus Blast is for sand teams and Dark types in general. With a Scarf she outspeeds and OHKOs Excadrill and Tyranitar, which is nice.
- Trick with a Scarf lets you cripple walls like Blissey and especially Chansey (you can then trick the Evo Stone onto an opponent for profit) whilst Destiny Bond lets you get kills against the aforementioned Kingdra and Ludicolo.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Energy Ball can be used in place of Thunderbolt, hitting Ground types as well but losing coverage against Flying types.
- Hidden Power Ice also lets you take down Landorus with ease, and has utility against Dragons and such.
- Shadow Ball and Signal Beam can be used to hit other Psychics, but aren't really needed or wanted the majority of the time. Signal Beam does OHKO Exeggutor and Shiftry though, who otherwise wall this set and set up on it with Growth.
Name: Life Orb Attacker
Move 1: Psychic
Move 2: Thunderbolt
Move 3: Focus Blast
Move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Pain Split
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Trace
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Without a Scarf, Gardevoir fails to outspeed Jolly Doryuuzu in sand, and most things without a speed boosting ability (still faster than most Swift Swim sets, mind)
- However, she also gains 30% more power and can now be used to check less frail pokémon. For example, she can switch in to Gyarados or Salamence after a death, Intimidate them, and proceed to OHKO with the appropriate move whilst not being KOd herself.
- Pain Split lets you heal fully against Blissey and Chansey, who can't status you thanks to Tracing Natural Cure. Epic lols.
- Different Hidden Powers can be used for different threats. For example HP Ground lets you counter Heatran thanks to Tracing Flash Fire.
- Icy Wind can be used over HP Ice, letting you hit faster opponents on the switch and proceeding to outspeed and KO them.
- Will o Wisp lets you inflict status on stuff you can't touch otherwise, particularly against Pursuit trappers, since you can stay in and at least try to dent them afterwards.
- Again, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball and Signal Beam can be used to give coverage against specific threats.
Name: Support
Move 1: Wish
Move 2: Protect
Move 3: Heal Bell
Move 4: Psychic / Destiny Bond
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Gardevoir can also run a nifty support set with its impressive movepool, although its stats make it somewhat lacklustre. She can act as a good cleric, switching in on Traced Immunities and proceeding to heal the team on the opponent's own switch.
- Wish and Protect give her and her team HP recovery, which is nice. If you don't want Protect for whatever reason, Will o Wisp gives you a nice status option whilst Encore can act as a deterrant for boosters (although it's less effective this generation due to its shortened duration)
- Psychic is a good STAB and is helpful against Fighting types, whilst Destiny Bond lets you act as a makeshift check to Adamant Excadrill and Swift Swimmers.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Taunt lets you shut down other walls, and Magic Coat lets you block an opponent's Taunt effectively, but both struggle to find space on a crowded set.
- Pain Split can be used instead of Wish should you be turned off by Gardevoir's low HP stat, but prevents you from healing your teammates.
- Other status options include Hypnosis, Thunder Wave and Toxic.
[SET]
Name: Dual Screens
Move 1: Reflect
Move 2: Light Screen
Move 3: Healing Wish / Memento
Move 4: Magic Coat
Item: Light Clay
Ability: Trace
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Gardevoir can pull off a Dual Screens set similarly to Uxie; whilst lacking Bulk and Speed she does get Trace to give her utility against certain opponents, and has Healing Wish as a trump card.
- She can switch in against Mischievious Heart users, Magic Coat their Taunt and then proceed to set up priority screens in their face, which is a useful niche.
- Healing Wish lets Gardevoir excel as a mid-game sweeper replenisher, but Memento is still usable should you want to guarantee some setup time instead of healing.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- If you don't care about Taunt, you can use Psychic or any of Gardevoir's other supporting moves instead of Magic Coat.
- Mental Herb can also be used to block Taunt, but at the cost of 3 turns of screens it largely isn't worth it.
- Psycho Shock can be used on all sets, but lacks potency against primarily physical Fighting type threats such as Conkeldurr. It's worth noting that Blissey is already dealt with thanks to Tracing Natural Cure, and possibly using Trick or Pain Split.
- Choice Specs is a viable option over the Scarf set, playing like the Life Orb set but requiring more switches in exchange for more power.
- A Calm Mind set is possible, but not advisable in an environment with such powerful Physical threats.
- A Trick Room set can be run using Trick Room, Encore and Destiny Bond to good effect, but Gardevoir might be a little too fast to do this that effectively.
- Gardevoir's other ability, Synchronize, is largely unnecessary since Trace is pretty much your reason for using Gardevoir over Uxie or the like. It's not as if Gardevoir lacks status options, either.
- Scizor can come in on anything but Will o Wisp and put Gardevoir in a very uncomfortable position with Bullet Punch, U Turn and Pursuit.
- Scrafty can come in on a Choiced Psychic or any of the support sets and start boosting, not fearing Will o Wisp thanks to Shed Skin and then proceeding to sweep.
- Reuniclus has the bulk to take anything Gardevoir throws at it, is unaffected by Will o Wisp or Pain Split and can Calm Mind to infinity unless Gardevoir packs Taunt.
- The best counter to Gardevoir is often just a lack of weather abusers or pokes with immunities for her to Trace sweet abilities off. Without Trace, she's basically an inferior Psychic type to Mesprit, Alakazam or Uxie depending on her role.
[DREAM WORLD]
Dream World Gardevoir has not been released yet. However, her alleged ability Telepathy may make her a useful supporter in Double Battles, especially since she knows some unique support moves including Healing Beam. Whilst she would have to sacrifice the utility of Trace for this role, she certainly has a better supporting movepool than other users like Beheeyem (or whatever).
