**Draft Order**: Late round 1 onwards
**Price Range**: 17-18 points
**Overview**: Greninja is a highly sought-out Pokemon in Draft due to its valuable Speed tier and diverse set options. When this is combined with its strong utility, Greninja becomes an extremely flexible Pokemon that can fill multiple roles to force progress, allowing it to fit well on nearly any team. Having three usable abilities in Battle Bond, Protean, and Torrent, along with being one of the few top-tier picks that is viable with or without being a Tera Captain, makes it an extremely easy Pokemon to fit on a draft. Greninja, however, can lack initial wallbreaking power and needs to be positioned well to take advantage of its strong abilities.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Battle Bond Sweeper**: Battle Bond Greninja can flourish as a cleaner if it can manage to pick off a weakened foe. Once Battle Bond is activated, it can outspeed most Speed-boosted Pokemon and utilize its wide movepool, making it even tougher to revenge kill. It can also Terastallize to break through checks or use even stronger STAB moves if it is made a Tera Captain. Water Shuriken can be used as coverage to pick off faster weakened foes and outspeed opposing revenge killers that use priority moves.
**Wallbreaker**: Greninja can have strong wallbreaking prowess thanks to Protean, as it allows Greninja to gain access to STAB damage on coverage moves, and it can further raise its damage output with damage-boosting items such as Choice Specs and Life Orb. With such a wide range of coverage moves, including Protean-boosted U-turn, it can become insanely difficult for an opponent to predict what to switch into. These sets are extremely effective revenge killers while also being able to break down walls early-game and open up a pathway for a different wincon.
**Entry Hazard Lead**: With Greninja's natural Speed, it can be used as a dedicated lead to set up Spikes or Toxic Spikes while utilizing Taunt to prevent any potential Defogger from removing the entry hazards. Once hazards are set, Greninja can use strong Protean-boosted attacks or even Torrent-boosted Surf or Hydro Pump to keep up the pressure.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Dark Pulse, Surf, Hydro Pump, Water Shuriken, Night Slash, Liquidation
**Setup Moves**: Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Spikes, Toxic Spikes, U-turn, Taunt, Substitute, Brick Break
**Coverage**: Ice Beam, Extrasensory, Grass Knot, Gunk Shot, Sludge Wave, Low Kick, Ice Punch, Rock Slide, Shadow Sneak, Acrobatics, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Switcheroo**: Switcheroo can be paired with any of the Choice items to make Greninja a lure for any bulky Pokemon attempting to check it, as they will be hindered for the remainder of the battle.
**Swords Dance**: Physical Greninja sets are less common due to its weaker STAB attacks and slightly lower Attack stat, but against physically weaker teams, it can use Swords Dance to wallbreak, and in combination with Battle Bond, it can become incredibly difficult to revenge kill.
**Endure**: Endure can be used on Torrent sets to activate a Salac or Petaya Berry, allowing Greninja to do massive damage with its Water-type moves.
Common Items
========
**Life Orb**: Life Orb can be used to effectively use Greninja's coverage for wallbreaking or sweeping. This is especially useful on Battle Bond sets, giving Greninja extra wallbreaking power without needing to Choice-lock it.
**Choice Specs**: Choice Specs allows Greninja to punch holes into bulkier Pokemon and maximize its damage output, having great synergy with Protean.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Greninja uses Heavy-Duty Boots to sustain its HP while pivoting, letting it revenge kill foes while staying out of KO range of priority moves.
**Focus Sash**: On lead sets, Focus Sash guarantees setting entry hazards while letting Greninja dish out a strong Torrent-boosted Water-type attack to force progress.
Niche Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Having a Choice Scarf of your own can be used to revenge KO foes that boost their speed or opposing Choice Scarf users. With Switcheroo, it can also cripple bulkier foes.
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: In scenarios where Greninja will mainly be using a single attack against teams that lack resistance to a specific type, damage-boosting items including Mystic Water, Black Glasses, and Never-Melt Ice are solid alternatives. Sets that wish to utilize Greninja's great super effective coverage can also use Expert Belt as opposed to Life Orb to avoid recoil.
**Petaya Berry / Salac Berry**: Petaya and Salac Berry can be activated with Substitute or Endure on Torrent or Battle Bond sets to more effectively set up sweeps.
**Choice Band**: Choice Band is less popular in comparison to Choice Specs on Greninja; however, it can be used against teams that are more susceptible to its physical coverage such as Protean-boosted U-turn.
Tera
========
Although Greninja does not require being a Tera Captain, it can be a great choice on drafts that don't have other high-cost partners that rely on Terastallizing. If Greninja is chosen to Terastallize, its damage on both wallbreaking and sweeper sets can be increased while also making it harder for foes to revenge kill it if it sheds its original weaknesses. Terastallizing removes Greninja's initial STAB combination on Protean sets as well as the ability to change its type, meaning it will generally only plan to Terastallize with sets using Battle Bond. Tera Water and Dark are the main options, as they further increase Greninja's STAB move damage, allowing Battle Bond sets to claim KOs that they would struggle to otherwise. Tera Ice and Poison are less common options that can be used to strengthen coverage moves. Other Tera types like Tera Ground and Electric can be used to gain additional coverage with Tera Blast while avoiding Thunder Wave.
Draft Strategy
========
Greninja is an extremely flexible Pokemon as a fast sweeper, wallbreaker, and revenge killer, making it a great option to center a draft's offense late in the first round or early in the second. Many hyper offensive teams match Greninja’s playstyle, but it also fits well on balance teams. Since Greninja can excel with or without Terastallizing, it works well with a variety of teammates, allowing most other top-tier Pokemon to be great partners regardless of if they require Terastallization.
**Wallbreakers**: Greninja's low unboosted damage output, even with Protean, means it can struggle to break through certain defensive cores without support from its team. This makes strong wallbreakers such as Raging Bolt, which specifically greatly appreciates the pressure it applies to Ground-type foes, fantastic partners. Physical wallbreakers like Garchomp and Gouging Fire can help it break through opposing special walls, opening up Greninja to clean late-game.
**Entry Hazard Setters**: Although Greninja has access to Spikes, it often wants to run more offensive sets that cannot fit the move. With its low power, the chip damage from entry hazards is incredibly useful to tip the scales in a battle where Greninja will be able to pick up a KO after foes are weakened by hazard damage, allowing Battle Bond to shine. Partners including Ting-Lu, Gliscor, and Ogerpon have access to Spikes, reducing the pressure for Greninja to use it.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Greninja will often be pivoting throughout the match, and Battle Bond sets that won't pivot as frequently often want the power boost of Life Orb. With entry hazards on the field, Greninja's longevity with offensive sets can plummet quickly without Heavy-Duty Boots. Due to this, drafting hazard removers like Great Tusk, Terapagos, and Iron Treads allows it to be much more flexible in which item it uses.
**Pivots**: Greninja’s access to U-turn allows it to be a great pivot, and when paired with entry hazards and other slow pivots to bring it in safely, a strong VoltTurn playstyle can be established that will be difficult for opponents to answer. Greninja itself can pivot to alternative wallbreakers, but having partners to pivot into Greninja is appreciated. Slower pivots like Uxie, Galarian Slowking, and Rotom-W can bring in Greninja safely to keep up offensive pressure.
Checks and Counters
========
**Special Walls**: Greninja can be weak if it has no damage-boosting item, especially on Battle Bond sets prior to claiming a KO. If naturally bulky Pokemon like Alomomola, Scream Tail, and Rotom-W switch in, they can freely absorb hits and force out Greninja, preventing it from being able to ever activate its ability.
**Status**: If Greninja is ever statused by Toxic or switching in with Toxic Spikes present, it’s automatically put on a timer, and with entry hazards up, it can become even harder to try and position it well for securing KOs. Greninja relies a lot on its Speed, meaning paralysis can cripple it almost entirely, allowing it to be more easily offensively checked.
**Speed Control / Priority Move Users**: Greninja can suffer from getting offensively checked by naturally faster Pokemon, strong Choice Scarf users, and priority move users, which prevent it from getting the Battle Bond boost. Foes with strong priority including Grassy Glide Rillaboom, Thunderclap Raging Bolt, and Vacuum Wave Iron Valiant are difficult to deal with, even with priority of its own in Water Shuriken.
**Chip Damage**: Greninja is very frail and often pivots many times in a game depending on its set. Due to this, it is often chipped down throughout a match by entry hazards if it is lacking Heavy-Duty Boots or by other sources of chip damage. This can severely cut down on Greninja's effectiveness, as its ability to pivot is limited, and it risks falling into range of priority attacks.
**Lures**: Greninja can be lured in and surprised by unexpected resistance Berries, as it often relies on predictable coverage to deal with certain threats. This can lead to Protean sets being picked off or Battle Bond sets being stopped in their tracks. Common resistance Berries foes may use as lures against Greninja are Yache, Colbur, Passho, Rindo, and Kebia Berries.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/blittius.546554/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno6377.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ken.594478/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Price Range**: 17-18 points
**Overview**: Greninja is a highly sought-out Pokemon in Draft due to its valuable Speed tier and diverse set options. When this is combined with its strong utility, Greninja becomes an extremely flexible Pokemon that can fill multiple roles to force progress, allowing it to fit well on nearly any team. Having three usable abilities in Battle Bond, Protean, and Torrent, along with being one of the few top-tier picks that is viable with or without being a Tera Captain, makes it an extremely easy Pokemon to fit on a draft. Greninja, however, can lack initial wallbreaking power and needs to be positioned well to take advantage of its strong abilities.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Battle Bond Sweeper**: Battle Bond Greninja can flourish as a cleaner if it can manage to pick off a weakened foe. Once Battle Bond is activated, it can outspeed most Speed-boosted Pokemon and utilize its wide movepool, making it even tougher to revenge kill. It can also Terastallize to break through checks or use even stronger STAB moves if it is made a Tera Captain. Water Shuriken can be used as coverage to pick off faster weakened foes and outspeed opposing revenge killers that use priority moves.
**Wallbreaker**: Greninja can have strong wallbreaking prowess thanks to Protean, as it allows Greninja to gain access to STAB damage on coverage moves, and it can further raise its damage output with damage-boosting items such as Choice Specs and Life Orb. With such a wide range of coverage moves, including Protean-boosted U-turn, it can become insanely difficult for an opponent to predict what to switch into. These sets are extremely effective revenge killers while also being able to break down walls early-game and open up a pathway for a different wincon.
**Entry Hazard Lead**: With Greninja's natural Speed, it can be used as a dedicated lead to set up Spikes or Toxic Spikes while utilizing Taunt to prevent any potential Defogger from removing the entry hazards. Once hazards are set, Greninja can use strong Protean-boosted attacks or even Torrent-boosted Surf or Hydro Pump to keep up the pressure.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Dark Pulse, Surf, Hydro Pump, Water Shuriken, Night Slash, Liquidation
**Setup Moves**: Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Spikes, Toxic Spikes, U-turn, Taunt, Substitute, Brick Break
**Coverage**: Ice Beam, Extrasensory, Grass Knot, Gunk Shot, Sludge Wave, Low Kick, Ice Punch, Rock Slide, Shadow Sneak, Acrobatics, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Switcheroo**: Switcheroo can be paired with any of the Choice items to make Greninja a lure for any bulky Pokemon attempting to check it, as they will be hindered for the remainder of the battle.
**Swords Dance**: Physical Greninja sets are less common due to its weaker STAB attacks and slightly lower Attack stat, but against physically weaker teams, it can use Swords Dance to wallbreak, and in combination with Battle Bond, it can become incredibly difficult to revenge kill.
**Endure**: Endure can be used on Torrent sets to activate a Salac or Petaya Berry, allowing Greninja to do massive damage with its Water-type moves.
Common Items
========
**Life Orb**: Life Orb can be used to effectively use Greninja's coverage for wallbreaking or sweeping. This is especially useful on Battle Bond sets, giving Greninja extra wallbreaking power without needing to Choice-lock it.
**Choice Specs**: Choice Specs allows Greninja to punch holes into bulkier Pokemon and maximize its damage output, having great synergy with Protean.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Greninja uses Heavy-Duty Boots to sustain its HP while pivoting, letting it revenge kill foes while staying out of KO range of priority moves.
**Focus Sash**: On lead sets, Focus Sash guarantees setting entry hazards while letting Greninja dish out a strong Torrent-boosted Water-type attack to force progress.
Niche Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Having a Choice Scarf of your own can be used to revenge KO foes that boost their speed or opposing Choice Scarf users. With Switcheroo, it can also cripple bulkier foes.
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: In scenarios where Greninja will mainly be using a single attack against teams that lack resistance to a specific type, damage-boosting items including Mystic Water, Black Glasses, and Never-Melt Ice are solid alternatives. Sets that wish to utilize Greninja's great super effective coverage can also use Expert Belt as opposed to Life Orb to avoid recoil.
**Petaya Berry / Salac Berry**: Petaya and Salac Berry can be activated with Substitute or Endure on Torrent or Battle Bond sets to more effectively set up sweeps.
**Choice Band**: Choice Band is less popular in comparison to Choice Specs on Greninja; however, it can be used against teams that are more susceptible to its physical coverage such as Protean-boosted U-turn.
Tera
========
Although Greninja does not require being a Tera Captain, it can be a great choice on drafts that don't have other high-cost partners that rely on Terastallizing. If Greninja is chosen to Terastallize, its damage on both wallbreaking and sweeper sets can be increased while also making it harder for foes to revenge kill it if it sheds its original weaknesses. Terastallizing removes Greninja's initial STAB combination on Protean sets as well as the ability to change its type, meaning it will generally only plan to Terastallize with sets using Battle Bond. Tera Water and Dark are the main options, as they further increase Greninja's STAB move damage, allowing Battle Bond sets to claim KOs that they would struggle to otherwise. Tera Ice and Poison are less common options that can be used to strengthen coverage moves. Other Tera types like Tera Ground and Electric can be used to gain additional coverage with Tera Blast while avoiding Thunder Wave.
Draft Strategy
========
Greninja is an extremely flexible Pokemon as a fast sweeper, wallbreaker, and revenge killer, making it a great option to center a draft's offense late in the first round or early in the second. Many hyper offensive teams match Greninja’s playstyle, but it also fits well on balance teams. Since Greninja can excel with or without Terastallizing, it works well with a variety of teammates, allowing most other top-tier Pokemon to be great partners regardless of if they require Terastallization.
**Wallbreakers**: Greninja's low unboosted damage output, even with Protean, means it can struggle to break through certain defensive cores without support from its team. This makes strong wallbreakers such as Raging Bolt, which specifically greatly appreciates the pressure it applies to Ground-type foes, fantastic partners. Physical wallbreakers like Garchomp and Gouging Fire can help it break through opposing special walls, opening up Greninja to clean late-game.
**Entry Hazard Setters**: Although Greninja has access to Spikes, it often wants to run more offensive sets that cannot fit the move. With its low power, the chip damage from entry hazards is incredibly useful to tip the scales in a battle where Greninja will be able to pick up a KO after foes are weakened by hazard damage, allowing Battle Bond to shine. Partners including Ting-Lu, Gliscor, and Ogerpon have access to Spikes, reducing the pressure for Greninja to use it.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Greninja will often be pivoting throughout the match, and Battle Bond sets that won't pivot as frequently often want the power boost of Life Orb. With entry hazards on the field, Greninja's longevity with offensive sets can plummet quickly without Heavy-Duty Boots. Due to this, drafting hazard removers like Great Tusk, Terapagos, and Iron Treads allows it to be much more flexible in which item it uses.
**Pivots**: Greninja’s access to U-turn allows it to be a great pivot, and when paired with entry hazards and other slow pivots to bring it in safely, a strong VoltTurn playstyle can be established that will be difficult for opponents to answer. Greninja itself can pivot to alternative wallbreakers, but having partners to pivot into Greninja is appreciated. Slower pivots like Uxie, Galarian Slowking, and Rotom-W can bring in Greninja safely to keep up offensive pressure.
Checks and Counters
========
**Special Walls**: Greninja can be weak if it has no damage-boosting item, especially on Battle Bond sets prior to claiming a KO. If naturally bulky Pokemon like Alomomola, Scream Tail, and Rotom-W switch in, they can freely absorb hits and force out Greninja, preventing it from being able to ever activate its ability.
**Status**: If Greninja is ever statused by Toxic or switching in with Toxic Spikes present, it’s automatically put on a timer, and with entry hazards up, it can become even harder to try and position it well for securing KOs. Greninja relies a lot on its Speed, meaning paralysis can cripple it almost entirely, allowing it to be more easily offensively checked.
**Speed Control / Priority Move Users**: Greninja can suffer from getting offensively checked by naturally faster Pokemon, strong Choice Scarf users, and priority move users, which prevent it from getting the Battle Bond boost. Foes with strong priority including Grassy Glide Rillaboom, Thunderclap Raging Bolt, and Vacuum Wave Iron Valiant are difficult to deal with, even with priority of its own in Water Shuriken.
**Chip Damage**: Greninja is very frail and often pivots many times in a game depending on its set. Due to this, it is often chipped down throughout a match by entry hazards if it is lacking Heavy-Duty Boots or by other sources of chip damage. This can severely cut down on Greninja's effectiveness, as its ability to pivot is limited, and it risks falling into range of priority attacks.
**Lures**: Greninja can be lured in and surprised by unexpected resistance Berries, as it often relies on predictable coverage to deal with certain threats. This can lead to Protean sets being picked off or Battle Bond sets being stopped in their tracks. Common resistance Berries foes may use as lures against Greninja are Yache, Colbur, Passho, Rindo, and Kebia Berries.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/blittius.546554/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno6377.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ken.594478/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
