[OVERVIEW]
Greninja is a threatening Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, with a good Special Attack and an amazing Speed tier that make it very threatening, being able to OHKO many threats like Mega Swampert, Mega Charizard X, Zygarde-C, and Dragonite. Backing up that statline is access to Protean with a great movepool, giving it more offensive pressure with a STAB boost on all of its moves and a way to evade powerful attacks by changing to a type that resists them or is immune to them. However, it is horribly frail, so any super effective moves against it will likely OHKO it, and it also falls to some strong neutral STAB attacks such as Adamant Haxorus's Outrage, Mega Lopunny's Giga Impact, and Choice Specs Magnezone's neutral Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt. Greninja can also be defeated by faster Pokemon that can take advantage of its low defenses like Zeraora and bulkier ones that aren't afraid to take its hits like Kyurem
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hydro Cannon
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Ice Beam / Blizzard
move 4: Dark Pulse / Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Steel
item: Choice Specs
ability: Protean
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hydro Cannon is Greninja's attack with the highest Base Power, and it can score an OHKO on threats such as Mega Charizard X and Mega Diancie with relative ease. Grass Knot is chosen in the second slot to hit the Water-types that resist Hydro Cannon for super effective damage, and it's Greninja's best option for dealing with Mega Slowbro, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Swampert. Ice Beam is fantastic coverage, as it obliterates Pokemon that are weak to it such as Dragonite, Landorus-T, and Naganadel. Blizzard gives Greninja another Ice-type coverage option that hits a bit harder, giving Greninja more consistent KOs on the bulky sets of Dragonite, Kommo-o, and Mega Altaria; however, its 70% accuracy can cause losses. Dark Pulse gives Greninja good coverage, beating Ghostium Z Aegislash and offensive Mew, and it is also a great option in dealing with Mirror Coat users like Avalugg, as Greninja keeping the Dark typing prevents the move from working. Hidden Power Fire is Greninja’s best option against Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Magearna. Ferrothorn and Scizor are both easily OHKOed, while Magearna, which can otherwise tank a Choice Specs-boosted Hydro Cannon and OHKO with Twinkle Tackle, is 2HKOed and sees Greninja change to a type that resists Twinkle Tackle. Another benefit of using Hidden Power Fire is that Magearna often will see Greninja as an easy KO, and luring it is very important. Hidden Power Steel can be used to resist both of Tapu Lele's STAB moves, but Special Defense investment is needed to survive a Shattered Psyche.
Set Details
========
Maximum Special Attack and Speed EVs are used to let Greninja hit as hard and fast as possible. A Timid nature is chosen so that Greninja can outspeed targets such as Mega Diancie, Blacephalon, Naganadel, and Mega Latios. A spread of 208 SpA / 48 SpD / 252 Spe with a Timid nature is ideal for using Hidden Power Steel. Choice Specs is used because it gives Greninja as much power as possible to OHKO its targets. Protean gives Greninja STAB on every move, giving it the power it needs to OHKO its targets.
Usage Tips
========
Use Greninja against Pokemon it can OHKO reliably, such as Mega Charizard X and Mega Slowbro. Greninja also has most of its OHKOs come from super effective moves, so a foe that is weak to one of Greninja's attacks is likely an easy target to be OHKOed. Hidden Power is slightly weaker and doesn't always result in this, with an example being that Hidden Power Fire fails to OHKO Magearna. Sometimes moves that will allow Greninja to attack again are the better option if Greninja can’t OHKO the opposing Pokemon, such as changing Greninja's type with Hidden Power Fire to resist Magearna's Twinkle Tackle. Some options to cheese a victory in unfavorable matchups can come from Greninja’s moves’ secondary effects. Dark Pulse's 20% flinch rate can be used to cheese a win from a Donphan or Magnezone, but it's not reliable for swinging the matchup. Ice Beam's freeze chance of 10% is less reliable than Dark Pulse's flinch rate, so that move should never be used for its secondary effect unless the Pokemon resists Dark Pulse but not Ice Beam.
Team Options
=========
Magnezone is a fantastic partner for Greninja, as it helps it deal with unfavorable matchups in Meloetta, Primarina, Mega Charizard Y, and Magearna. It also has a good matchup against Sturdy Pokemon such as Avalugg and Crustle. Greninja also beats many threats to Magnezone in Dragonite, Kommo-o, Zygarde, and Mega Charizard X. Zygarde has a fantastic matchup against almost every Sturdy Pokemon in the tier, which Greninja mostly universally loses to. It also helps Greninja in matchups against faster Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Zeraora. Greninja can also help Zygarde by making quick work of Dragonite, other Zygarde, and Mega Charizard X. Dragonite is another good Pokemon to partner with Greninja, as it has fantastic matchups against Mega Venusaur, Meloetta, Mega Charizard Y, and Magnezone. Greninja also helps Dragonite in shaky matchups against Mega Charizard X and Aegislash. Heatran is a great option because it more reliably beats Charizard and Magearna, letting Greninja use Dark Pulse or a different Hidden Power. Heatran also appreciates Greninja's targeting of Zygarde and Dragonite. Other Electric-types like Raikou and Zapdos can also be used as team options because they are much more reliable at dealing with Gyarados than Magnezone while also beating Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Mega Charizard Y.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Greninja is extremely versatile with its mixed attacking stats and Protean, so it has many options to use in combating what would have been losses before. Shadow Sneak is a fantastic option on non-Choice Specs Greninja sets like Waterium, as it changes it to a Ghost-type. This can be an win against Pokemon that are Choice-locked into a Normal- or Fighting-type move, with a notable example being Porygon-Z. Shadow Sneak can even be used on Choice Specs Greninja, as the overall chip damage will usually be enough to KO a Pokemon given enough time, and if the Pokemon is immune to it, it will slowly Struggle until it is KOed by recoil, as Shadow Sneak has a healthy 48 PP. An example of this is Choice-locked Porygon-Z using Hyper Beam eight times on Greninja and doing no damage due to Greninja's Ghost typing and being KOed by Struggle recoil afterwards. Extrasensory is Greninja’s best option to deal with Mega Venusaur, but it's a subpar move choice elsewhere. Hidden Power Electric can be used against Mega Gyarados to confound it, OHKOing normal Gyarados while Grass Knot OHKOes Mega Gyarados. Due to the type change, it's also a valuable tool against Pokemon that attack with Supersonic Skystrike, such as Skarmory. This is generally a bad idea due to the limited use of Hidden Power Electric outside of these two scenarios. Hidden Power Flying is a good tool against Pokemon that use Tectonic Rage on Greninja, with Donphan being a good example. It also OHKOes Mega Heracross. Outside of these two situations, the move has very limited use. Water Shuriken can be used to 2HKO Golem and sometimes KO Donphan, but it has very little use outside of this and is also heavily luck based when facing Donphan. Greninja's extensive physical movepool can be used to make a Choice Band set, with Giga Impact for high Base Power, Gunk Shot to deal with Fairy-types like Mega Gardevoir, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Bulu, and Low Kick for special walls or heavy targets like Chansey and Kyurem. Greninja also has fantastic physical coverage in Ice Punch, Waterfall, Night Slash, and Rock Slide to fit the team. However, Greninja is no longer able to deal with some threats with a Choice Band set, as Ice Punch no longer OHKOes Dragonite in Ice Beam's place. A Modest Choice Scarf set can be used with one of these coverage moves to bait faster Pokemon, such as using Hidden Power Ground on a Zeraora or Magnezone to take an Electric-type attack, outspeeding Choice Scarf Haxorus and OHKOing it with Ice Beam, or outstripping Mega Blaziken's Speed tier even after Protect and washing it away with Hydro Cannon. This is generally a subpar option because Greninja loses its immense power from a Choice Specs or Choice Band. A Life Orb can be used to have Protean take a more defensive role, as Greninja changing its typing can help afterwards when taking down the opposing Pokemon. A Z-Crystal can also be used to give Greninja the same power, if not more, of Choice Specs or Choice Band on one move and the freedom it gets from Life Orb. Notable options of this are Darkinium Z to OHKO Mega Metagross and Icium Z to have the most consistent matchup against Dragonite. However, both of these options have subpar power in comparison to Choice Specs and Choice Band, as OHKOing targets such as Dragonite, Mega Charizard X, and Mega Gyarados becomes much harder when Greninja doesn't have a flat boost to all of its attacks as high as from Choice Specs or Choice Band. Torrent can also be used with Hydro Cannon, Substitute, Work Up, and either Taunt or Water Shuriken to provide Greninja with a one-time nuke that can OHKO even specially defensive Mega Charizard X and Mega Mawile, with the set utilizing Substitute to cut down Greninja’s HP so it’s in Torrent range. This set utilizes either Petaya Berry or Waterium Z, as a Petaya Berry-boosted Hydro Cannon is more powerful than Hydro Vortex, but Hydro Vortex doesn’t require a recharge turn, and cannot miss. However, this set can no longer deal with other threats like Mega Slowbro and fast Dragonite.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Greninja is liable to being OHKOed by strong STAB moves or super effective moves from faster Pokemon such as Zeraora, Mega Lopunny, and Choice Scarf Haxorus unless it has a Choice Scarf itself.
**Sturdy**: Since Sturdy Pokemon can always absorb a hit from Greninja, they’re really effective at OHKOing it. Donphan is a good example, as it survives everything and OHKOes Greninja with neutral Tectonic Rage. However, Greninja can survive or avoid this attack and strike back with priority to win, depending on the set.
**Bulky Pokemon**: Bulkier Pokemon can take Greninja's attacks and OHKO it in return. However, Greninja's insane amount of versatility can usually help it get by these walls depending on the set. Bulky PP stall Kyurem can survive anything from Choice Specs easily and 2HKO Greninja with Ice Beam or Earth Power depending on what it's locked into. Mega Venusaur 2HKOes Greninja with Sludge Bomb and only fears Extrasensory, while Chansey is extremely consistent and only fears Choice Band sets.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[greensemicircle, 444697]]
- Quality checked by: [[motogp, 412409], [charizard8888, 333554], [dom, 280380]]
- Grammar checked by: [[martha, 384270], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
Greninja is a threatening Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, with a good Special Attack and an amazing Speed tier that make it very threatening, being able to OHKO many threats like Mega Swampert, Mega Charizard X, Zygarde-C, and Dragonite. Backing up that statline is access to Protean with a great movepool, giving it more offensive pressure with a STAB boost on all of its moves and a way to evade powerful attacks by changing to a type that resists them or is immune to them. However, it is horribly frail, so any super effective moves against it will likely OHKO it, and it also falls to some strong neutral STAB attacks such as Adamant Haxorus's Outrage, Mega Lopunny's Giga Impact, and Choice Specs Magnezone's neutral Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt. Greninja can also be defeated by faster Pokemon that can take advantage of its low defenses like Zeraora and bulkier ones that aren't afraid to take its hits like Kyurem
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hydro Cannon
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Ice Beam / Blizzard
move 4: Dark Pulse / Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Steel
item: Choice Specs
ability: Protean
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hydro Cannon is Greninja's attack with the highest Base Power, and it can score an OHKO on threats such as Mega Charizard X and Mega Diancie with relative ease. Grass Knot is chosen in the second slot to hit the Water-types that resist Hydro Cannon for super effective damage, and it's Greninja's best option for dealing with Mega Slowbro, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Swampert. Ice Beam is fantastic coverage, as it obliterates Pokemon that are weak to it such as Dragonite, Landorus-T, and Naganadel. Blizzard gives Greninja another Ice-type coverage option that hits a bit harder, giving Greninja more consistent KOs on the bulky sets of Dragonite, Kommo-o, and Mega Altaria; however, its 70% accuracy can cause losses. Dark Pulse gives Greninja good coverage, beating Ghostium Z Aegislash and offensive Mew, and it is also a great option in dealing with Mirror Coat users like Avalugg, as Greninja keeping the Dark typing prevents the move from working. Hidden Power Fire is Greninja’s best option against Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Magearna. Ferrothorn and Scizor are both easily OHKOed, while Magearna, which can otherwise tank a Choice Specs-boosted Hydro Cannon and OHKO with Twinkle Tackle, is 2HKOed and sees Greninja change to a type that resists Twinkle Tackle. Another benefit of using Hidden Power Fire is that Magearna often will see Greninja as an easy KO, and luring it is very important. Hidden Power Steel can be used to resist both of Tapu Lele's STAB moves, but Special Defense investment is needed to survive a Shattered Psyche.
Set Details
========
Maximum Special Attack and Speed EVs are used to let Greninja hit as hard and fast as possible. A Timid nature is chosen so that Greninja can outspeed targets such as Mega Diancie, Blacephalon, Naganadel, and Mega Latios. A spread of 208 SpA / 48 SpD / 252 Spe with a Timid nature is ideal for using Hidden Power Steel. Choice Specs is used because it gives Greninja as much power as possible to OHKO its targets. Protean gives Greninja STAB on every move, giving it the power it needs to OHKO its targets.
Usage Tips
========
Use Greninja against Pokemon it can OHKO reliably, such as Mega Charizard X and Mega Slowbro. Greninja also has most of its OHKOs come from super effective moves, so a foe that is weak to one of Greninja's attacks is likely an easy target to be OHKOed. Hidden Power is slightly weaker and doesn't always result in this, with an example being that Hidden Power Fire fails to OHKO Magearna. Sometimes moves that will allow Greninja to attack again are the better option if Greninja can’t OHKO the opposing Pokemon, such as changing Greninja's type with Hidden Power Fire to resist Magearna's Twinkle Tackle. Some options to cheese a victory in unfavorable matchups can come from Greninja’s moves’ secondary effects. Dark Pulse's 20% flinch rate can be used to cheese a win from a Donphan or Magnezone, but it's not reliable for swinging the matchup. Ice Beam's freeze chance of 10% is less reliable than Dark Pulse's flinch rate, so that move should never be used for its secondary effect unless the Pokemon resists Dark Pulse but not Ice Beam.
Team Options
=========
Magnezone is a fantastic partner for Greninja, as it helps it deal with unfavorable matchups in Meloetta, Primarina, Mega Charizard Y, and Magearna. It also has a good matchup against Sturdy Pokemon such as Avalugg and Crustle. Greninja also beats many threats to Magnezone in Dragonite, Kommo-o, Zygarde, and Mega Charizard X. Zygarde has a fantastic matchup against almost every Sturdy Pokemon in the tier, which Greninja mostly universally loses to. It also helps Greninja in matchups against faster Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Zeraora. Greninja can also help Zygarde by making quick work of Dragonite, other Zygarde, and Mega Charizard X. Dragonite is another good Pokemon to partner with Greninja, as it has fantastic matchups against Mega Venusaur, Meloetta, Mega Charizard Y, and Magnezone. Greninja also helps Dragonite in shaky matchups against Mega Charizard X and Aegislash. Heatran is a great option because it more reliably beats Charizard and Magearna, letting Greninja use Dark Pulse or a different Hidden Power. Heatran also appreciates Greninja's targeting of Zygarde and Dragonite. Other Electric-types like Raikou and Zapdos can also be used as team options because they are much more reliable at dealing with Gyarados than Magnezone while also beating Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Mega Charizard Y.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Greninja is extremely versatile with its mixed attacking stats and Protean, so it has many options to use in combating what would have been losses before. Shadow Sneak is a fantastic option on non-Choice Specs Greninja sets like Waterium, as it changes it to a Ghost-type. This can be an win against Pokemon that are Choice-locked into a Normal- or Fighting-type move, with a notable example being Porygon-Z. Shadow Sneak can even be used on Choice Specs Greninja, as the overall chip damage will usually be enough to KO a Pokemon given enough time, and if the Pokemon is immune to it, it will slowly Struggle until it is KOed by recoil, as Shadow Sneak has a healthy 48 PP. An example of this is Choice-locked Porygon-Z using Hyper Beam eight times on Greninja and doing no damage due to Greninja's Ghost typing and being KOed by Struggle recoil afterwards. Extrasensory is Greninja’s best option to deal with Mega Venusaur, but it's a subpar move choice elsewhere. Hidden Power Electric can be used against Mega Gyarados to confound it, OHKOing normal Gyarados while Grass Knot OHKOes Mega Gyarados. Due to the type change, it's also a valuable tool against Pokemon that attack with Supersonic Skystrike, such as Skarmory. This is generally a bad idea due to the limited use of Hidden Power Electric outside of these two scenarios. Hidden Power Flying is a good tool against Pokemon that use Tectonic Rage on Greninja, with Donphan being a good example. It also OHKOes Mega Heracross. Outside of these two situations, the move has very limited use. Water Shuriken can be used to 2HKO Golem and sometimes KO Donphan, but it has very little use outside of this and is also heavily luck based when facing Donphan. Greninja's extensive physical movepool can be used to make a Choice Band set, with Giga Impact for high Base Power, Gunk Shot to deal with Fairy-types like Mega Gardevoir, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Bulu, and Low Kick for special walls or heavy targets like Chansey and Kyurem. Greninja also has fantastic physical coverage in Ice Punch, Waterfall, Night Slash, and Rock Slide to fit the team. However, Greninja is no longer able to deal with some threats with a Choice Band set, as Ice Punch no longer OHKOes Dragonite in Ice Beam's place. A Modest Choice Scarf set can be used with one of these coverage moves to bait faster Pokemon, such as using Hidden Power Ground on a Zeraora or Magnezone to take an Electric-type attack, outspeeding Choice Scarf Haxorus and OHKOing it with Ice Beam, or outstripping Mega Blaziken's Speed tier even after Protect and washing it away with Hydro Cannon. This is generally a subpar option because Greninja loses its immense power from a Choice Specs or Choice Band. A Life Orb can be used to have Protean take a more defensive role, as Greninja changing its typing can help afterwards when taking down the opposing Pokemon. A Z-Crystal can also be used to give Greninja the same power, if not more, of Choice Specs or Choice Band on one move and the freedom it gets from Life Orb. Notable options of this are Darkinium Z to OHKO Mega Metagross and Icium Z to have the most consistent matchup against Dragonite. However, both of these options have subpar power in comparison to Choice Specs and Choice Band, as OHKOing targets such as Dragonite, Mega Charizard X, and Mega Gyarados becomes much harder when Greninja doesn't have a flat boost to all of its attacks as high as from Choice Specs or Choice Band. Torrent can also be used with Hydro Cannon, Substitute, Work Up, and either Taunt or Water Shuriken to provide Greninja with a one-time nuke that can OHKO even specially defensive Mega Charizard X and Mega Mawile, with the set utilizing Substitute to cut down Greninja’s HP so it’s in Torrent range. This set utilizes either Petaya Berry or Waterium Z, as a Petaya Berry-boosted Hydro Cannon is more powerful than Hydro Vortex, but Hydro Vortex doesn’t require a recharge turn, and cannot miss. However, this set can no longer deal with other threats like Mega Slowbro and fast Dragonite.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Greninja is liable to being OHKOed by strong STAB moves or super effective moves from faster Pokemon such as Zeraora, Mega Lopunny, and Choice Scarf Haxorus unless it has a Choice Scarf itself.
**Sturdy**: Since Sturdy Pokemon can always absorb a hit from Greninja, they’re really effective at OHKOing it. Donphan is a good example, as it survives everything and OHKOes Greninja with neutral Tectonic Rage. However, Greninja can survive or avoid this attack and strike back with priority to win, depending on the set.
**Bulky Pokemon**: Bulkier Pokemon can take Greninja's attacks and OHKO it in return. However, Greninja's insane amount of versatility can usually help it get by these walls depending on the set. Bulky PP stall Kyurem can survive anything from Choice Specs easily and 2HKO Greninja with Ice Beam or Earth Power depending on what it's locked into. Mega Venusaur 2HKOes Greninja with Sludge Bomb and only fears Extrasensory, while Chansey is extremely consistent and only fears Choice Band sets.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[greensemicircle, 444697]]
- Quality checked by: [[motogp, 412409], [charizard8888, 333554], [dom, 280380]]
- Grammar checked by: [[martha, 384270], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
Last edited:
