Base Stats:
HP: 76
ATK: 110
DEF: 70
SPA: 81
SPD: 70
SPE: 123
Abilites: Overgrow / Protean (Hidden)
New Move:
Flower Trick
Grass-type | Physical | 70BP | 16PP
Bypasses the accuracy check and always critically hits. Very similar to Wicked Blow and Surging Strikes, though slightly weaker.
Acrobatics
Agility
Ally Switch (Doubles)
Brick Break
Flower Trick
Foul Play
Hone Claws
Knock Off
Leech Seed
Low Kick
Petal Blizzard
Play Rough
Protect
Seed Bomb
Shadow Claw
Spikes
Substitute
Sucker Punch
Taunt
Toxic Spikes
Trailblaze
U-turn
Agility
Ally Switch (Doubles)
Brick Break
Flower Trick
Foul Play
Hone Claws
Knock Off
Leech Seed
Low Kick
Petal Blizzard
Play Rough
Protect
Seed Bomb
Shadow Claw
Spikes
Substitute
Sucker Punch
Taunt
Toxic Spikes
Trailblaze
U-turn
Aura Sphere
Chilling Water
Dark Pulse
Energy Ball
Giga Drain
Leaf Storm
Nasty Plot
Power Gem
Rest
Shadow Ball
Sleep Talk
Trick Room
Chilling Water
Dark Pulse
Energy Ball
Giga Drain
Leaf Storm
Nasty Plot
Power Gem
Rest
Shadow Ball
Sleep Talk
Trick Room
Pros:
- Base 123 Speed is an excellent speed tier, allowing Meowscarada to outspeed a significant portion of the metagame, including threats such as Greninja, Roaring Moon, Iron Valiant, and Pawmot. This allows Meowscarada to function both as an excellent pivot as well as a Choice user.
- Access to U-turn, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes gives Meowscarada very strong pivot potential.
- With Knock Off's distribution being limited, Meowscarada is one of the few Pokemon that can continue to remove items, all while getting stab from it.
- The Dark-typing gives it a key resistance to Ghost, which can be used to abuse choice-locked Dragapult and Gengar to some extent.
- Despite its nerf, Protean is still a solid ability, and gives Meowscarada the ability to switch its stab to whatever it pleases. Meowscarada packs a bunch of interesting coverage options including Play Rough, Thunder Punch, Low Kick, and Acrobatics.
- Flower Trick is a really strong move that gives Meowscarada surprising power. Though it isn't nearly as strong as Wicked Blow or Surging Strikes coming from Urshifu, Meowscarada can still output some solid damage even to resists. This is further augmented by Flower Trick's PP, which is double that of the other guaranteed crit moves.
- Grass/Dark as a defensive type combination has a lot of notable weaknesses, including Fairy, Ice, Fighting, and a nasty 4x weakness to Bug (U-turn). This is alleviated somewhat by Protean, but bringing Meowscarada may be tough.
- 76/70/70 bulk is rather low. Meowscarada will struggle to take neutral hits or repeated resisted hits.
- Meowscarada will not appreciated coming in on Stealth Rock and Spikes repeatedly. Heavy Duty-Boots will be the default item for this Pokemon, while Choice sets will require some solid hazard control to keep Meowscarada healthy throughout the match.
- Grass/Dark stabs aren't the greatest, and with the nerf to Protean, Mewoscarada may lack the ability to break through bulkier Pokemon such as Corviknight effectively.
- Protean being nerfed and Meowscarada having a dual typing means the Meowscarada player must think carefully about what type they wish to become, which may make Meowscarada a difficult Pokemon to use.
- While Base 123 is a great speed tier, it's still outsped by threatening Pokemon such as Dragapult and Weavile.
Sets:
Pivot (Meowscarada) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protean / Overgrow
Tera Type: Dark / Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Spikes / Toxic Spikes / Sucker Punch
- Flower Trick / Low Kick / Taunt
This set makes use of Meowscarada's unique traits as a fast Pokemon with a load of utility moves. U-turn is always a great mid-ground button to click, especially if Meowscarada hasn't used Protean yet. Knock Off is pretty valuable now that its distribution has been limited, and Meowscarada's naturally high speed and decent base 110 attack allows it to force switches into bulkier Pokemon easily, allowing Meowscarada to remove their item. The last two moves are personal preference, but I believe Spikes and Flower Trick make the best use of Meowscarada's abilities. Spikes gives Meowscarada another button to click when forcing switches. Toxic Spikes can be used as an alternative. Sucker Punch allows Meowscarada to have an option against Dragapult and scarfers, preventing it from being scared out so easily. Flower Trick is an excellent move to have in the last slot and allows Meowscarada to threaten slower Pokemon. Low Kick can be a solid coverage option against Steel-types. Finally, Taunt can allow Meowscarada to punish more passive Pokemon by removing their recovery options or their ability to get rid of hazards.
Choice (Meowscarada) @ Choice Scarf / Choice Band
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Dark / Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Flower Trick
- Low Kick / Sucker Punch / Thunder Punch / Spikes / Toxic Spikes
This set allows Meowscarada to take full advantage of its access to a strong Protean U-turn. Choice Scarf allows Meowscarada to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame, making it a threatening Pokemon capable of forcing a load of switches. Choice Band gives Meowscarada the ability better threaten bulkier Pokemon. Knock Off/Flower Trick are chosen due to their power as well as Knock Off's utility. The last slot can is pretty customizable: Low Kick gives Meowscarada a solid option against Steels, Thunder Punch allows it to hit Corviknight, and Sucker Punch is useful on Choice Band sets to threaten faster Pokemon. You can also pull a Greninja and run a hazard in the last slot to punish switches.
Other Options:
- With access to Hone Claws, Meowscarada could potentially be a late-game win condition thanks to its speed. With middling BP coverage moves and Protean forcing Meowscarada into a Dark-type should it Hone Claws first however, Meowscarada may struggle to pull these sets off, especially considering Hone Claws' meager 1 stage boost.
- In a similar vain to Greninja, Meowscarada can run a Suicide Lead set with Spikes and Toxic Spikes, augmented by its solid speed and access to Taunt.
- Meowscarada has a surprisingly decent Special movepool and access to Nasty Plot, but with a base Special Attack of 81 those sets will struggle to break through bulkier Pokemon.
- Meowscarada's high speed makes it an interesting Trick Room setter that can potentially get a "Slow" pivot out, but Meowscarada's poor bulk means you're better off using something that's actually usable in Trick Room.
Meowscarada looks to be an interesting Pokemon at all phases of the game. In the early game, Meowscarada can use its decent attack and good speed to force switches, allowing it to make progress with Knock Off or set hazards with Spikes. It can also be a solid Pokemon mid-late game with Choice sets potentially allowing it to clean up weakened teams. It's middling power when unboosted, lack of solid boosting options, and its middling coverage options, on top of its mediocre defensive typing and bulk, make Meowscarada a Pokemon that seems easy to check on paper. Time will tell if Meowscarada truly becomes a big force in the OU metagame, but early on I expect Meowscarada's unique traits to make a solid option for more offensive teams.
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