[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 8+
**Price Range**: 1-2 Points
**Overview**: Despite Illumise’s reputation as a dex-filler & generally forgettable Pokemon, it gains excellent use as a low cost support Pokemon due to Prankster & its surprisingly deep support movepool. With access to Prankster, & moves such as Encore, Tailwind, Thunder Wave, & Wish, Illumise can find itself as a decently well rounded support user. Even with its deep movepool & fantastic ability, it leaves much to be desired in terms of typing & stats.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Support**: Illumise can function at its best when using support sets to help its teammates, crippling the opponent rather than dealing damage outright by itself. Even though it lacks in defensive stats, it can take most neutral hits effectively while it uses moves such as Thunder Wave or Encore to disrupt the opponent. Tailwind is a great move for Illumise, as after being set-up, it can allow slower teammates to seamlessly outspeed their respective threats.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: U-turn, Struggle Bug
**Setup Moves**: Do not use Growth ever.
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Light Screen, Roost, Tailwind, Thunder Wave, Trick, Wish, Charm
**Coverage**: Giga Drain
Niche Moves
========
**Infestation**: Infestation allows Illumise to trap & slowly chip away at Pokemon that might pose a threat to the more valuable members of your team. But due to Infestation being a damage dealing move it is unaffected by Prankster, allowing your opponent to switch out before it is trapped, leaving Illumise in a vulnerable position.
**Rain Dance / Sunny Day**: Illumise can find some use as a priority weather user on teams that lack a reliable Drizzle or Drought user to setup the weather to support the potential teammates that would want to abuse the respective weather condition. Illumise will usually have to hold a Damp or Heat rock, which would mean Illumise would have to forego usage of Heavy-Duty Boots
**U-turn**: Illumise rarely ever gets any usage out of its damage dealing moves, besides U-turn, as forfeiting Prankster use leaves Illumise incredibly vulnerable. U-turn is a great move as it allows Illumise to chip something quickly before it switches out to a teammate.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots is the most common & straight forward item for Illumise to use. As a support Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock, Illumise switches in & out frequently, & is damaged heavily by its weakness to Stealth Rock. Heavy-Duty Boots mitigates this, allowing Illumise to safely switch in on Stealth Rocks, allowing it to function as normal without the risk of being KO’d when at full health after Stealth Rock damage.
**Choice Items**: The Choice Items are a strong option for Illumise with Trick. Illumise can use Trick accompanied with a Choice Item to disrupt your opponents support Pokemon, making them unable to use their status moves.
Niche Items
========
**Sitrus Berry**: Illumise can sometimes run a Sitrus Berry in place of Heavy-Duty Boots, as it can allow Illumise to recover HP on switch ins, making it able to get off a move & possibly living an extra hit before fainting.
Tera
========
Despite being a Bug type, Illumise almost never wants to use Tera itself, as it is far too frail to make any use of it. Tera is much better spent on a different Pokemon that is much bulkier or more offensively oriented than Illumise.
Draft Strategy
========
Illumise is almost always taken as one of the final Pokemon added to a team in an effort to bring more support to a team due its low cost & is virtually immune to being sniped by another player as its a generally forgotten Pokemon. Illumise will usually be best picked for defensive teams without a reliable support Pokemon, or offensive teams without a reliable source for disruption moves.
**Prankster**: Illumise has access to one of the best support abilities in the game in the form of Prankster. With Prankster, Illumises teammates that are offensive oriented such as Heatran can get into scenarios to work more effectively.
**Wish**: Wish is a very strong move for Illumise to use as it allows it to keep its teammates without any reliable source of recovery at a reliable amount of health such as rapid spin users like Excadrill or Blastoise.
**Thunder Wave**: Thunder Wave can cripple offensive threats effectively, allowing for the offensive Pokemon on your team to have room to wallbreak more effectively such as Kingambit who like speed control to work effectively.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark Types**: Dark types can easily shutdown Illumise due to Dark types being immune to all Prankster moves, which is where Illumise gains all of its utility. Without access to Prankster, Illumise becomes immensely crippled & unable to perform the one task it was made to do. Pokemon such as Chi-Yu or Kingambit effortlessly wall Illumise, forcing it out with Illumise doing little damage on its way out, or being KO'd.
**Taunt / Encore**: Taunt & Encore are major disruptors to Illumise because most of the time, as Illumises only damage dealing move is U-turn. Illumise can switch out with U-turn in the case this does happen, unless it is locked in with Encore, & forces Illumise out.
**Strong Offensive Pokemon**: Illumise is very threatened by Pokemon that are generally strong attackers as they can outright KO Illumise. Illumise can use moves like Charm & Light Screen to mitigate this, but Illumise is very scared of being KO’d by Pokemon like Ursaluna, Slither Wing or Iron Moth that have enough damage output to KO Illumise in one hit.
[Credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/friendselectric.679344/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
**Draft Order**: Round 8+
**Price Range**: 1-2 Points
**Overview**: Despite Illumise’s reputation as a dex-filler & generally forgettable Pokemon, it gains excellent use as a low cost support Pokemon due to Prankster & its surprisingly deep support movepool. With access to Prankster, & moves such as Encore, Tailwind, Thunder Wave, & Wish, Illumise can find itself as a decently well rounded support user. Even with its deep movepool & fantastic ability, it leaves much to be desired in terms of typing & stats.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Support**: Illumise can function at its best when using support sets to help its teammates, crippling the opponent rather than dealing damage outright by itself. Even though it lacks in defensive stats, it can take most neutral hits effectively while it uses moves such as Thunder Wave or Encore to disrupt the opponent. Tailwind is a great move for Illumise, as after being set-up, it can allow slower teammates to seamlessly outspeed their respective threats.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: U-turn, Struggle Bug
**Setup Moves**: Do not use Growth ever.
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Light Screen, Roost, Tailwind, Thunder Wave, Trick, Wish, Charm
**Coverage**: Giga Drain
Niche Moves
========
**Infestation**: Infestation allows Illumise to trap & slowly chip away at Pokemon that might pose a threat to the more valuable members of your team. But due to Infestation being a damage dealing move it is unaffected by Prankster, allowing your opponent to switch out before it is trapped, leaving Illumise in a vulnerable position.
**Rain Dance / Sunny Day**: Illumise can find some use as a priority weather user on teams that lack a reliable Drizzle or Drought user to setup the weather to support the potential teammates that would want to abuse the respective weather condition. Illumise will usually have to hold a Damp or Heat rock, which would mean Illumise would have to forego usage of Heavy-Duty Boots
**U-turn**: Illumise rarely ever gets any usage out of its damage dealing moves, besides U-turn, as forfeiting Prankster use leaves Illumise incredibly vulnerable. U-turn is a great move as it allows Illumise to chip something quickly before it switches out to a teammate.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots is the most common & straight forward item for Illumise to use. As a support Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock, Illumise switches in & out frequently, & is damaged heavily by its weakness to Stealth Rock. Heavy-Duty Boots mitigates this, allowing Illumise to safely switch in on Stealth Rocks, allowing it to function as normal without the risk of being KO’d when at full health after Stealth Rock damage.
**Choice Items**: The Choice Items are a strong option for Illumise with Trick. Illumise can use Trick accompanied with a Choice Item to disrupt your opponents support Pokemon, making them unable to use their status moves.
Niche Items
========
**Sitrus Berry**: Illumise can sometimes run a Sitrus Berry in place of Heavy-Duty Boots, as it can allow Illumise to recover HP on switch ins, making it able to get off a move & possibly living an extra hit before fainting.
Tera
========
Despite being a Bug type, Illumise almost never wants to use Tera itself, as it is far too frail to make any use of it. Tera is much better spent on a different Pokemon that is much bulkier or more offensively oriented than Illumise.
Draft Strategy
========
Illumise is almost always taken as one of the final Pokemon added to a team in an effort to bring more support to a team due its low cost & is virtually immune to being sniped by another player as its a generally forgotten Pokemon. Illumise will usually be best picked for defensive teams without a reliable support Pokemon, or offensive teams without a reliable source for disruption moves.
**Prankster**: Illumise has access to one of the best support abilities in the game in the form of Prankster. With Prankster, Illumises teammates that are offensive oriented such as Heatran can get into scenarios to work more effectively.
**Wish**: Wish is a very strong move for Illumise to use as it allows it to keep its teammates without any reliable source of recovery at a reliable amount of health such as rapid spin users like Excadrill or Blastoise.
**Thunder Wave**: Thunder Wave can cripple offensive threats effectively, allowing for the offensive Pokemon on your team to have room to wallbreak more effectively such as Kingambit who like speed control to work effectively.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark Types**: Dark types can easily shutdown Illumise due to Dark types being immune to all Prankster moves, which is where Illumise gains all of its utility. Without access to Prankster, Illumise becomes immensely crippled & unable to perform the one task it was made to do. Pokemon such as Chi-Yu or Kingambit effortlessly wall Illumise, forcing it out with Illumise doing little damage on its way out, or being KO'd.
**Taunt / Encore**: Taunt & Encore are major disruptors to Illumise because most of the time, as Illumises only damage dealing move is U-turn. Illumise can switch out with U-turn in the case this does happen, unless it is locked in with Encore, & forces Illumise out.
**Strong Offensive Pokemon**: Illumise is very threatened by Pokemon that are generally strong attackers as they can outright KO Illumise. Illumise can use moves like Charm & Light Screen to mitigate this, but Illumise is very scared of being KO’d by Pokemon like Ursaluna, Slither Wing or Iron Moth that have enough damage output to KO Illumise in one hit.
[Credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/friendselectric.679344/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
Last edited:
