[OVERVIEW]
Lunala is one of the most prominent special sweepers in Ubers thanks to its largely unresisted Ghost-type STAB and fantastic ability in Shadow Shield. With its Shadow Shield intact, Lunala is nearly impossible to OHKO without a boosted multi-hit move, enabling it to set up on the majority of the tier and revenge kill opposing sweepers. However, due to its average Speed and Special Attack, Lunala can be comfortably handled by most teams once its Shadow Shield is broken. Additionally, fellow Ghost-types Flutter Mane and Arceus-Ghost are often more desirable outside of hyper offense for their superior Speed and versatility, respectively. Nevertheless, Lunala shines when given the support of its teammates, and is a centerpiece of many hyper offense teams.
[SET]
Calm Mind (Lunala) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
Tera Type: Fairy / Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moongeist Beam
- Psyshock / Moonblast
- Moonblast / Moonlight / Agility
[SET COMMENTS]
Heavy-Duty Boots ensures Lunala's Shadow Shield will always be intact when it enters the battlefield, giving it as many setup opportunities as possible. Psyshock pairs nicely with Calm Mind to break past special walls like Blissey and Clodsire and beat opposing Calm Mind users one on one. Moonblast, in combination with Moongeist Beam, gives Lunala perfect neutral coverage against the tier, notably hitting Dark-type Pokemon like Ting-Lu and Chien-Pao for super effective damage, and always OHKOes Koraidon. A three attack Calm Mind set with both of the aforementioned moves is most effective at sweeping, but Lunala can situationally run Moonlight or Agility as its last move instead. Moonlight allows Lunala to refresh its Shadow Shield and potentially boost mutliple times with Calm Mind, and it can be used to scout for opposing Terastallizations or the move of a Choice itemed Pokemon if Lunala moves first. Agility transforms Lunala into a late game win condition against weakened teams, since after a single Agility boost Lunala outspeeds the entire metagame, including even +1 Speed Koraidon. However, Lunala will rarely ever get the chance to boost with both Calm Mind and Agility. Moonblast is the preferred third move with Moonlight or Agility to not leave Lunala hopelessly walled by Dark-types, but Psyshock can be an effective wallbreaking tool when paired with Moonlight. Tera Fairy is great both defensively and offensively on Lunala, since it boosts the power of Moonblast—netting crucial 2HKOs on Ting-Lu and Kingambit—and flips Lunala's 4x weakness to Dark-type moves into a resistance. Tera Fairy is also useful to check a boosted Koraidon in an emergency. Tera Ghost can be used instead to boost the power of Moongeist Beam substantially, letting Lunala OHKO Koraidon and Zacian-C and 2HKO Ho-Oh after a single Calm Mind boost, but sacrifices the defensive utility of Tera Fairy. A Timid nature is preferred to outspeed most Arceus formes and the base 90 and 95 Speed Pokemon in the tier, such as Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Kyurem-B. A Modest nature can be used instead with Sticky Web support or on teams with sufficient speed control.
Calm Mind Lunala excels on offense teams where it can be enabled to sweep after only a single boost. Sticky Web support from Ribombee helps Lunala overcome its middling Speed to KO common revenge killers and opposing sweepers, such as Zacian-C, Koraidon, and Eternatus. Special sweepers like Calm Mind Arceus formes and Eternatus alongside Lunala can overwhelm checks like Ting-Lu and Ho-Oh and clear the way for each other to sweep. Zacian-C and Scale Shot Koraidon make for great teammates as they lure Ho-Oh and can take care of the Dark-types that hinder Lunala, such as Kingambit, Ting-Lu, and Chien-Pao. In return, Lunala acts as an emergency check, courtesy of Shadow Shield, for dangerous sweepers like Calyrex-I and Extreme Killer Arceus that threaten its teammates. Zacian-C especially appreciates Lunala defeating its most common check, Necrozma-DM.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Checks and Counters
====
**Ting-Lu**: Ting-Lu can tank any attack from Lunala, even after Lunala has set up, and weaken it with Ruination or phaze it out with Whirlwind.
**Ho-Oh**: Unless Lunala is running Meteor Beam, Ho-Oh can comfortably phaze it out with Whirlwind and heal off any damage with Regenerator.
**Kingambit**: The combination of Kingambit's typing, priority Sucker Punch, and respectable bulk make it difficult for Lunala to ever sweep. With multiple allies fainted Kingambit even has favorable odds to OHKO Lunala through Shadow Shield with Sucker Punch. Additionally, Kingambit's STAB Iron Head discourages Lunala from Terastallizing Fairy in the one on one.
**Dark-types**: Although rare, Dark-type Pokemon like Arceus-Dark, Tyranitar, and Chien-Pao make Lunala's prospects of sweeping grim. They all take super effective damage from Moonblast, but Tyranitar and Arceus-Dark can only be 2HKOed and OHKOed, respectively, by a boosted Mooblast if Lunala Terastallizes Fairy, while Chien-Pao's Speed and priority Sucker Punch let it KO Lunala before it can be hit.
**Special Walls**: Walls like Blissey, Clodsire, and defensive Eternatus can shut down Lunala through status or by stalling out the PP of its moves if Lunala is not running Psyshock.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lillianofficial.547277/
Quality checked by:
[QC checker 1's profile link]
[QC checker 2's profile link]
Grammar checked by:
[GP checker's profile link]
To-do:
Other options
Grammar and phrasing
Fix repetitive wordings
Lunala is one of the most prominent special sweepers in Ubers thanks to its largely unresisted Ghost-type STAB and fantastic ability in Shadow Shield. With its Shadow Shield intact, Lunala is nearly impossible to OHKO without a boosted multi-hit move, enabling it to set up on the majority of the tier and revenge kill opposing sweepers. However, due to its average Speed and Special Attack, Lunala can be comfortably handled by most teams once its Shadow Shield is broken. Additionally, fellow Ghost-types Flutter Mane and Arceus-Ghost are often more desirable outside of hyper offense for their superior Speed and versatility, respectively. Nevertheless, Lunala shines when given the support of its teammates, and is a centerpiece of many hyper offense teams.
[SET]
Calm Mind (Lunala) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
Tera Type: Fairy / Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moongeist Beam
- Psyshock / Moonblast
- Moonblast / Moonlight / Agility
[SET COMMENTS]
Heavy-Duty Boots ensures Lunala's Shadow Shield will always be intact when it enters the battlefield, giving it as many setup opportunities as possible. Psyshock pairs nicely with Calm Mind to break past special walls like Blissey and Clodsire and beat opposing Calm Mind users one on one. Moonblast, in combination with Moongeist Beam, gives Lunala perfect neutral coverage against the tier, notably hitting Dark-type Pokemon like Ting-Lu and Chien-Pao for super effective damage, and always OHKOes Koraidon. A three attack Calm Mind set with both of the aforementioned moves is most effective at sweeping, but Lunala can situationally run Moonlight or Agility as its last move instead. Moonlight allows Lunala to refresh its Shadow Shield and potentially boost mutliple times with Calm Mind, and it can be used to scout for opposing Terastallizations or the move of a Choice itemed Pokemon if Lunala moves first. Agility transforms Lunala into a late game win condition against weakened teams, since after a single Agility boost Lunala outspeeds the entire metagame, including even +1 Speed Koraidon. However, Lunala will rarely ever get the chance to boost with both Calm Mind and Agility. Moonblast is the preferred third move with Moonlight or Agility to not leave Lunala hopelessly walled by Dark-types, but Psyshock can be an effective wallbreaking tool when paired with Moonlight. Tera Fairy is great both defensively and offensively on Lunala, since it boosts the power of Moonblast—netting crucial 2HKOs on Ting-Lu and Kingambit—and flips Lunala's 4x weakness to Dark-type moves into a resistance. Tera Fairy is also useful to check a boosted Koraidon in an emergency. Tera Ghost can be used instead to boost the power of Moongeist Beam substantially, letting Lunala OHKO Koraidon and Zacian-C and 2HKO Ho-Oh after a single Calm Mind boost, but sacrifices the defensive utility of Tera Fairy. A Timid nature is preferred to outspeed most Arceus formes and the base 90 and 95 Speed Pokemon in the tier, such as Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Kyurem-B. A Modest nature can be used instead with Sticky Web support or on teams with sufficient speed control.
Calm Mind Lunala excels on offense teams where it can be enabled to sweep after only a single boost. Sticky Web support from Ribombee helps Lunala overcome its middling Speed to KO common revenge killers and opposing sweepers, such as Zacian-C, Koraidon, and Eternatus. Special sweepers like Calm Mind Arceus formes and Eternatus alongside Lunala can overwhelm checks like Ting-Lu and Ho-Oh and clear the way for each other to sweep. Zacian-C and Scale Shot Koraidon make for great teammates as they lure Ho-Oh and can take care of the Dark-types that hinder Lunala, such as Kingambit, Ting-Lu, and Chien-Pao. In return, Lunala acts as an emergency check, courtesy of Shadow Shield, for dangerous sweepers like Calyrex-I and Extreme Killer Arceus that threaten its teammates. Zacian-C especially appreciates Lunala defeating its most common check, Necrozma-DM.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Checks and Counters
====
**Ting-Lu**: Ting-Lu can tank any attack from Lunala, even after Lunala has set up, and weaken it with Ruination or phaze it out with Whirlwind.
**Ho-Oh**: Unless Lunala is running Meteor Beam, Ho-Oh can comfortably phaze it out with Whirlwind and heal off any damage with Regenerator.
**Kingambit**: The combination of Kingambit's typing, priority Sucker Punch, and respectable bulk make it difficult for Lunala to ever sweep. With multiple allies fainted Kingambit even has favorable odds to OHKO Lunala through Shadow Shield with Sucker Punch. Additionally, Kingambit's STAB Iron Head discourages Lunala from Terastallizing Fairy in the one on one.
**Dark-types**: Although rare, Dark-type Pokemon like Arceus-Dark, Tyranitar, and Chien-Pao make Lunala's prospects of sweeping grim. They all take super effective damage from Moonblast, but Tyranitar and Arceus-Dark can only be 2HKOed and OHKOed, respectively, by a boosted Mooblast if Lunala Terastallizes Fairy, while Chien-Pao's Speed and priority Sucker Punch let it KO Lunala before it can be hit.
**Special Walls**: Walls like Blissey, Clodsire, and defensive Eternatus can shut down Lunala through status or by stalling out the PP of its moves if Lunala is not running Psyshock.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lillianofficial.547277/
Quality checked by:
[QC checker 1's profile link]
[QC checker 2's profile link]
Grammar checked by:
[GP checker's profile link]
To-do:
Other options
Grammar and phrasing
Fix repetitive wordings
