[OVERVIEW]
- Manaphy is a potent wall breaker due to its access in Tail Glow boosting its Special Attack by three stages in just a single turn, making it an immediate threat to defensively oriented teams.
- Manaphy can also act as an effective stall breaker on rain teams as Hydration prevents it from being susceptible to status conditions wearing it down.
- Its sole Water typing and solid base 100 stats across the board grants it adequate bulk allowing it several opportunities to set up.
- Access to great coverage moves in Ice Beam, Psychic, and Energy Ball gives it the ability to tailor its moveset to break past its established checks and counters.
- Unfortunately, Manaphy suffers from a bad case of four-moveslot syndrome as it finds itself not able to run all the moves it wants in one set.
- Without a boost Manaphy is rather weak making it reliant on setup to be effective.
- While Manaphy's base 100 speed stat is sufficient, it is often too slow to be effective towards offensively oriented teams.
name: Tail Glow + 3 Attaks
move 1: Tail Glow
move 2: Surf
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Psychic / Rest
item: Waterium Z
ability: Hydration
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Tail Glow is an amazing set up move boosting Manaphy's Special Attack to significant levels allowing it to break past defensive Pokemon such as Toxapex, Celesteela, and Chansey under rain.
- Surf is the STAB move of choice over Scald as it has a slightly higher base power and also due to the fact that Waterium Z Manaphy is found on offense builds which don't fufill the need to fish for Scald burns.
- Ice Beam allows Manaphy to hit bulky Grass types like Tangrowth and Tapu Bulu, as well as Dragon Types such as Mega Latias, Mega Latios, and Hydreigon.
- Psychic targets Pokemon such as Toxapex and Mega Venusaur which would otherwise wall Manaphy.
- Rest can be used over Psychic to give Manaphy a much appreciated form of longevity, however it is only an option on rain teams as it cannot afford the loss of coverage otherwise. It's especially appreciated versus Stall, as you can keep healthy and not worry about getting poisoned when rain isn't up.
========
- Waterium Z turns into a powerful Hydro Vortex in Surf which is notable when trying to break past Pokemon such as Assault Vest Magearna and Unaware Clefable.
- Maximum Speed with a Timid nature allows Manaphy to take advantage of it's decent 100 base speed stat, outpacing Tapu Lele, Kyurem, Kyurem-Black, and Hydreigon, as well as speed tieing with other base 100's.
- While Hydration is Manaphy's only ability, it's a pretty solid one being able to heal itself from status in the rain.
========
- Manaphy is most effective as an early game wallbreaker to tear through defensive cores, so don't be scared to set up early on in the game and start breaking through the opposing team. However, you should be cautios when switching it in as you don't want it taking unnecessary damage limiting it's breaking capabilities.
- Manaphy can often be underwhelming versus offensive matchups as offense runs Pokemon that can outspeed and do heavy damage or potentially KO it such as Tapu Koko and Mega Alakazam.
- Therefore, versus an offense matchup Manaphy's main focus should not be to set up, but using it to check specific threats throughout the match.
- Manaphy should try to set up on Pokemon that have trouble touching it such as Celesteela, Heatran, and Defensive Mew.
- Manaphy has good bulk and can take advantage of that by switching into weak or resisted attacks like Defensive Mew's Earthquake or Jirachi's Iron Head.
========
- Pelipper is a great teammate for Manaphy as its ability Drizzle summons rain for Manaphy boosting its STAB attack as well as utilizing its ability in Hydration.
- Mega Swampert and Ash-Greninja make for good teammates on rain teams as Manaphy can break past bulky Water types allowing either one of them to clean late game.
- Pursuit from the likes of, Tyranitar, and Weavile is extremely useful for Manaphy being able to trap Psychic types such as Mega Latias and Mega Latios. Weavile's more notably useful as it has a good utility move in Knock Off being able to remove Chansey's Eviolite making Manaphy's job much easier to break through.
- Serperior, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Koko all make for good teammates as they threaten bulky Water types that Manaphy has trouble breaking through such as Toxapex, Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, and Gastrodon.
- Manaphy appreciates Volt Switch and U-turn support from users like Tapu Koko, Rotom-W, Landorus-T and Jirachi so that Manaphy can safety switch in, allowing it to start wall breaking.
- Late game cleaners such as Ash-Greninja and Kartana pair very well with Manaphy as they are able to take advantage of all those holes that Manaphy is capable of punching through defensive and balance builds.
- Bulky Grass types like Tangrowth and Ferrothorn make for good partners when paired with Manaphy as it lets in faster Electric and Grass type Pokemon like Tapu Koko and Kartana which can scare it out with their STAB attacks. Ash-Greninja in rain can often overwhelm Manaphy so this helps out in that aspect as well.
Other Options
=============
- Rain Dance can be ran in conjuction with Waterium Z to give Manaphy a +1 speed boost while summoning rain which can provide a good advantage versus offensively oriented teams.
- Alternatively Leftovers can be ran instead of Waterium Z to give Manaphy a form of longevity while taking advantage of it's solid bulk for an offensive Pokemon.
- Energy Ball can be ran to break through bulky Water types like Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, and Gastrodon, however running this has a drawback of not being able to hit Toxapex.
- Hidden Power Fire can be ran to target Ferrothorn which otherwise takes on Manaphy even with a boost, but this makes Manaphy bait for any Water type.
===================
- Grass-types: Ferrothorn, Tapu Bulu, Tangrowth, Serperior, Mega Venusaur, and Amoonguss all resist Surf, but they have to watch out for a specific coverage moves in Hidden Power Fire, Ice Beam, and Psychic.
- Water-types: Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, Gastrodon, and Suicune, can relatively wall Manaphy without Energy Ball, even after a boost.
- Fast Offensive Pokemon: Pokemon that outspeed Manaphy, such as Ash-Greninja, Mega Alakazam, Kartana, and Tapu Koko are all capable of revenge killing it assuming it doesn't have a +1 speed boost from Z-Rain Dance.
- Written by: [[Insydia, 448783]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lyd, 303291], [, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
Last edited:
