[OVERVIEW]
Incineroar is an excellent anti-metagame threat in 1v1, capable of beating a majority of the prominent Pokemon in the metagame, such as physical Dragonite and both Mega Charizard formes. Its combination of excellent natural bulk, Intimidate, and Bulk Up allows Incineroar to tank some of the most powerful attacks in the game such as Devastating Drake from physical Dragonite and Breakneck Blitz from Meloetta. It also has access to an exceptionally powerful Z-Move in Malicious Moonsault, able to OHKO hyper offensive Pokemon such as Naganadel and all of the aforementioned threats. Its Fire / Dark typing also grants it an immunity to burns and Prankster status moves, letting it go toe-to-toe against Mega Sableye and Whimsicott. Additionally, no single type resists both Dark and Fire, giving Incineroar pretty decent coverage with its STAB options. However, Incineroar has terrible base Speed even for a bulky attacker, so it struggles against speedy variants of Pokemon that Fire-types usually excel against, mainly Magearna, and is also susceptible to faster niche threats such as Smeargle and Vivillon.
[SET]
name: Bulk Up Offense
move 1: Bulk Up
move 2: Fake Out
move 3: Darkest Lariat
move 4: Flare Blitz
item: Incinium Z
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 48 Atk / 108 Def / 100 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Bulk Up is lets Incineroar tank multiple hits from some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame such as physical Dragonite and Mega Charizard X. Fake Out allows Incineroar to break abilities like Multiscale and Sturdy for free, as well as get Pokemon into the KO range of Incineroar's remaining attacks. This will allow Incineroar to beat Pokemon such as Dragonite, Magnezone, Haxorus, and bulky Mega Charizard Y. Darkest Lariat is a moderately powerful Dark-type STAB move unique to Incineroar that allows it to ignore opposing stat changes, particularly any boosts in Defense. This allows Incineroar to blast through stall Pokemon that rely on boosting their Defense, such as Mega Slowbro, Deoxys-S, and Type: Null. When boosted by Incinium Z, it becomes an exceptionally powerful one-time attack capable of dealing with threats such as Meloetta, Mega Metagross, and Aegislash. Flare Blitz is Incineroar's secondary STAB option, not only hitting harder than Darkest Lariat but also threatening Steel-type Pokemon such as Kartana, Genesect, and Celesteela.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP investment and 108 Defense EVs let Incineroar survive Devastating Drake from physical Dragonite, use Bulk Up, and then survive the following Earthquake; it also lets Incineroar tank two uses of Outrage from Mega Charizard X. Maximum HP investment and 100 Special Defense EVs allow Incineroar to survive Gigavolt Havoc from Magnezone, Draco Meteor from Naganadel, and Air Slash followed by Blast Burn from Speedy Bulky Mega Charizard Y. The remaining EVs are put into Attack alongside an Adamant nature in order to improve its offensive presence. Intimidate enables Incineroar to survive physical attacks it normally wouldn't be able to, such as Devastating Drake from physical Dragonite and Giga Impact from non-Hyper Cutter Mega Pinsir. A more specially defensive EV spread of 228 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpD with an Adamant nature can also be run in order to always survive Choice Scarf Porygon-Z's Hyper Beam and beat Speedy Bulky Tapu Lele variants.
Usage Tips
========
Incineroar should be sent out against frailer specially offensive Pokemon, Pokemon weak to its Dark-type coverage, and Pokemon that boost their defenses. Fake Out is generally going to be the best play against every Pokemon, as it deals a small amount of chip damage and breaks Sturdy and Multiscale from Pokemon such as Magnezone and Dragonite. The only time Fake Out should not be used first is against Ghost-types like Mega Gengar and Aegislash, as well as Tapu Lele, as it can punish Fake Out with Psychic Surge. After using Fake Out against Pokemon that Malicious Moonsault or Flare Blitz can OHKO, immediately use the appropriate move to do so. This applies to Pokemon such as Mega Metagross, Mega Charizard Y, Meloetta, Mew, Genesect, and Magnezone. When against Pokemon Incineroar cannot OHKO, such as Mega Slowbro, physical Dragonite, Celesteela, and Mega Charizard X, use Bulk Up after Fake Out. This will give Incineroar the extra bulk and power needed to beat these Pokemon with either Malicious Moonsault or Flare Blitz. Against Speedy Bulky Tapu Lele and Mega Slowbro, using Bulk Up allows Incineroar to react to either Moonblast and Z-Reflect from the former or Iron Defense and Scald from the latter. For Tapu Lele, using Bulk Up allows Incineroar to 3HKO it with a combination of Malicious Moonsault followed by two uses of Darkest Lariat through Z-Reflect, with Bulk Up forcing Tapu Lele to use Z-Reflect no matter what, avoiding the need to predict. Bear in mind, however, that Incineroar can only beat this Tapu Lele set with the alternative specially defensive EV spread. Against Mega Slowbro, Bulk Up allows either Darkest Lariat to 2HKO through Iron Defense or Malicious Moonsault to OHKO if Mega Slowbro uses Scald.
Team Options
========
Incineroar appreciates answers to Pokemon that can hit it super effectively, mainly Water-, Rock-, Ground-, and Fighting-type Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Golem, and Kommo-o. To fulfill this need, use bulky Grass-, Psychic-, Water-, and Fairy-type Pokemon such as Mega Venusaur, Tapu Lele, Mega Slowbro, Primarina, and Tapu Fini, all of which can sponge up any attacks coming from these threats and fire back with their own super effective moves. They also appreciate Incineroar's penchant to nail hyper offensive threats such as Mega Charizard Y and Magnezone. Incineroar is naturally slow and thus has issues with Pokemon that can capitalize on its poor Speed, such as Jumpluff, standard Magearna, and Vivillon. Pokemon such as Genesect, Ferrothorn, and Taunt Mega Mawile can all do well against these Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Incineroar can run a Jolly nature and Swords Dance in order to outspeed and overpower Magearna, which can survive Flare Blitz after an Iron Defense boost. However, Incineroar will lose some overall bulk, which can be detrimental against foes such as Dragonite and Naganadel. Will-O-Wisp can be run in order to beat slower Ground- and Rock-type Pokemon such as Donphan and Golem. However, this not only requires 252 Speed EVs, taking away from Incineroar's bulk, but also means it loses either Bulk Up or Flare Blitz, as Fake Out and Darkest Lariat are essential to its kit, and thus Incineroar will struggle against foes it would beat normally such as Genesect and Ferrothorn. Alongside Fake Out, Earthquake allows Incineroar to lure in Air Balloon Heatran, generally one of the best Fire-type counters in 1v1, and swiftly knock it out before it can do the same. Taunt or Flame Charge can be useful to beat certain stall Pokemon such as Jumpluff, Breloom, and Chansey. However, Darkest Lariat can usually provide a better answer to stall, ignoring the defensive boosts of Pokemon such as Type: Null and Deoxys-S.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Attackers with Super Effective Moves**: Despite Incineroar's positive matchups against several highly ranked Pokemon in 1v1, it still struggles against most Pokemon that can hit it super effectively and survive Fake Out followed by an attack. Bulky Water-, Rock-, Ground-, and Fighting-type Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Mega Diancie, Garchomp, and Mega Lopunny all threaten Incineroar.
**Greninja**: Greninja is an incredibly common threat in 1v1 that can easily drown Incineroar in its powerful Hydro Cannon or Hydro Vortex.
**Sleep Users**: Pokemon such as Jumpluff, Breloom, Smeargle, and Vivillon can all put Incineroar to sleep before it can do anything to stop them thanks to its below-average Speed. Taunt can somewhat mitigate these threats, but that is reliant on getting good luck with sleep turns and therefore makes Incineroar only a soft check at best.
**Bulky Fairy-type Pokemon**: Fairy-type Pokemon that can shrug off Incineroar's Malicious Moonsault and Flare Blitz can seriously threaten it with either setup moves or slow chip damage. Pokemon such as Magearna, bulky Mega Gardevoir, and Mega Altaria can all mitigate the damage from Incineroar's attacks and follow up with powerful Fairy-type moves in return.
**Extraordinarily Powerful Special Attackers**: Pokemon such as Volcarona and Porygon-Z have the firepower needed to blast through Incineroar despite its notable Special Defense investment.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Chickenpie2, 305552], [Lost Heros, 316445], [Synonimous, 457703]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Empress, 175616]]
Incineroar is an excellent anti-metagame threat in 1v1, capable of beating a majority of the prominent Pokemon in the metagame, such as physical Dragonite and both Mega Charizard formes. Its combination of excellent natural bulk, Intimidate, and Bulk Up allows Incineroar to tank some of the most powerful attacks in the game such as Devastating Drake from physical Dragonite and Breakneck Blitz from Meloetta. It also has access to an exceptionally powerful Z-Move in Malicious Moonsault, able to OHKO hyper offensive Pokemon such as Naganadel and all of the aforementioned threats. Its Fire / Dark typing also grants it an immunity to burns and Prankster status moves, letting it go toe-to-toe against Mega Sableye and Whimsicott. Additionally, no single type resists both Dark and Fire, giving Incineroar pretty decent coverage with its STAB options. However, Incineroar has terrible base Speed even for a bulky attacker, so it struggles against speedy variants of Pokemon that Fire-types usually excel against, mainly Magearna, and is also susceptible to faster niche threats such as Smeargle and Vivillon.
[SET]
name: Bulk Up Offense
move 1: Bulk Up
move 2: Fake Out
move 3: Darkest Lariat
move 4: Flare Blitz
item: Incinium Z
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 48 Atk / 108 Def / 100 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Bulk Up is lets Incineroar tank multiple hits from some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame such as physical Dragonite and Mega Charizard X. Fake Out allows Incineroar to break abilities like Multiscale and Sturdy for free, as well as get Pokemon into the KO range of Incineroar's remaining attacks. This will allow Incineroar to beat Pokemon such as Dragonite, Magnezone, Haxorus, and bulky Mega Charizard Y. Darkest Lariat is a moderately powerful Dark-type STAB move unique to Incineroar that allows it to ignore opposing stat changes, particularly any boosts in Defense. This allows Incineroar to blast through stall Pokemon that rely on boosting their Defense, such as Mega Slowbro, Deoxys-S, and Type: Null. When boosted by Incinium Z, it becomes an exceptionally powerful one-time attack capable of dealing with threats such as Meloetta, Mega Metagross, and Aegislash. Flare Blitz is Incineroar's secondary STAB option, not only hitting harder than Darkest Lariat but also threatening Steel-type Pokemon such as Kartana, Genesect, and Celesteela.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP investment and 108 Defense EVs let Incineroar survive Devastating Drake from physical Dragonite, use Bulk Up, and then survive the following Earthquake; it also lets Incineroar tank two uses of Outrage from Mega Charizard X. Maximum HP investment and 100 Special Defense EVs allow Incineroar to survive Gigavolt Havoc from Magnezone, Draco Meteor from Naganadel, and Air Slash followed by Blast Burn from Speedy Bulky Mega Charizard Y. The remaining EVs are put into Attack alongside an Adamant nature in order to improve its offensive presence. Intimidate enables Incineroar to survive physical attacks it normally wouldn't be able to, such as Devastating Drake from physical Dragonite and Giga Impact from non-Hyper Cutter Mega Pinsir. A more specially defensive EV spread of 228 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpD with an Adamant nature can also be run in order to always survive Choice Scarf Porygon-Z's Hyper Beam and beat Speedy Bulky Tapu Lele variants.
Usage Tips
========
Incineroar should be sent out against frailer specially offensive Pokemon, Pokemon weak to its Dark-type coverage, and Pokemon that boost their defenses. Fake Out is generally going to be the best play against every Pokemon, as it deals a small amount of chip damage and breaks Sturdy and Multiscale from Pokemon such as Magnezone and Dragonite. The only time Fake Out should not be used first is against Ghost-types like Mega Gengar and Aegislash, as well as Tapu Lele, as it can punish Fake Out with Psychic Surge. After using Fake Out against Pokemon that Malicious Moonsault or Flare Blitz can OHKO, immediately use the appropriate move to do so. This applies to Pokemon such as Mega Metagross, Mega Charizard Y, Meloetta, Mew, Genesect, and Magnezone. When against Pokemon Incineroar cannot OHKO, such as Mega Slowbro, physical Dragonite, Celesteela, and Mega Charizard X, use Bulk Up after Fake Out. This will give Incineroar the extra bulk and power needed to beat these Pokemon with either Malicious Moonsault or Flare Blitz. Against Speedy Bulky Tapu Lele and Mega Slowbro, using Bulk Up allows Incineroar to react to either Moonblast and Z-Reflect from the former or Iron Defense and Scald from the latter. For Tapu Lele, using Bulk Up allows Incineroar to 3HKO it with a combination of Malicious Moonsault followed by two uses of Darkest Lariat through Z-Reflect, with Bulk Up forcing Tapu Lele to use Z-Reflect no matter what, avoiding the need to predict. Bear in mind, however, that Incineroar can only beat this Tapu Lele set with the alternative specially defensive EV spread. Against Mega Slowbro, Bulk Up allows either Darkest Lariat to 2HKO through Iron Defense or Malicious Moonsault to OHKO if Mega Slowbro uses Scald.
Team Options
========
Incineroar appreciates answers to Pokemon that can hit it super effectively, mainly Water-, Rock-, Ground-, and Fighting-type Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Golem, and Kommo-o. To fulfill this need, use bulky Grass-, Psychic-, Water-, and Fairy-type Pokemon such as Mega Venusaur, Tapu Lele, Mega Slowbro, Primarina, and Tapu Fini, all of which can sponge up any attacks coming from these threats and fire back with their own super effective moves. They also appreciate Incineroar's penchant to nail hyper offensive threats such as Mega Charizard Y and Magnezone. Incineroar is naturally slow and thus has issues with Pokemon that can capitalize on its poor Speed, such as Jumpluff, standard Magearna, and Vivillon. Pokemon such as Genesect, Ferrothorn, and Taunt Mega Mawile can all do well against these Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Incineroar can run a Jolly nature and Swords Dance in order to outspeed and overpower Magearna, which can survive Flare Blitz after an Iron Defense boost. However, Incineroar will lose some overall bulk, which can be detrimental against foes such as Dragonite and Naganadel. Will-O-Wisp can be run in order to beat slower Ground- and Rock-type Pokemon such as Donphan and Golem. However, this not only requires 252 Speed EVs, taking away from Incineroar's bulk, but also means it loses either Bulk Up or Flare Blitz, as Fake Out and Darkest Lariat are essential to its kit, and thus Incineroar will struggle against foes it would beat normally such as Genesect and Ferrothorn. Alongside Fake Out, Earthquake allows Incineroar to lure in Air Balloon Heatran, generally one of the best Fire-type counters in 1v1, and swiftly knock it out before it can do the same. Taunt or Flame Charge can be useful to beat certain stall Pokemon such as Jumpluff, Breloom, and Chansey. However, Darkest Lariat can usually provide a better answer to stall, ignoring the defensive boosts of Pokemon such as Type: Null and Deoxys-S.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Attackers with Super Effective Moves**: Despite Incineroar's positive matchups against several highly ranked Pokemon in 1v1, it still struggles against most Pokemon that can hit it super effectively and survive Fake Out followed by an attack. Bulky Water-, Rock-, Ground-, and Fighting-type Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Mega Diancie, Garchomp, and Mega Lopunny all threaten Incineroar.
**Greninja**: Greninja is an incredibly common threat in 1v1 that can easily drown Incineroar in its powerful Hydro Cannon or Hydro Vortex.
**Sleep Users**: Pokemon such as Jumpluff, Breloom, Smeargle, and Vivillon can all put Incineroar to sleep before it can do anything to stop them thanks to its below-average Speed. Taunt can somewhat mitigate these threats, but that is reliant on getting good luck with sleep turns and therefore makes Incineroar only a soft check at best.
**Bulky Fairy-type Pokemon**: Fairy-type Pokemon that can shrug off Incineroar's Malicious Moonsault and Flare Blitz can seriously threaten it with either setup moves or slow chip damage. Pokemon such as Magearna, bulky Mega Gardevoir, and Mega Altaria can all mitigate the damage from Incineroar's attacks and follow up with powerful Fairy-type moves in return.
**Extraordinarily Powerful Special Attackers**: Pokemon such as Volcarona and Porygon-Z have the firepower needed to blast through Incineroar despite its notable Special Defense investment.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Chickenpie2, 305552], [Lost Heros, 316445], [Synonimous, 457703]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Empress, 175616]]
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