Hey all, I wanted to talk about a mon I feel has a genuine niche in the tier and not just some random mon I’m biased towards. Well, there is some bias, but it is formulated off of things I’ve seen. I want to nominate this guy to VR:
UR > C-/C
This may seem a little weird since this is usually a mon seen in current gen ou, but after hearing about it from people in US South I decided to look into it further and give it a whirl. Primarina has some cool niches that separate it from other waters and gives it a more defined niche than what was thought of in the past. Let’s get into the juicy stuff, shall we?
Primarina’s role in NDOU
Now, what is exactly IS its niche? Well, for starters, it has a really good typing in Water / Fairy, which has applications offensively and defensively. Defensively, this gives Primarina a role on offensive teams as a check to Pokémon like heatran, Zamazenta, and Darkrai, Pokemon that offensive teams usually lack good resists into. Of course it’s not a hard stop into them, but it does provide more wiggle room against them. Offensively, I would like to point to some of the main fairy resists in the tier. Think of Pokemon like Heatran, Glowking, Corviknight, Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and look how they interact with Primarina. Slowking and Ferrothorn can be taken advantage of with Tera and just how surprisingly hard Primarina hits. Corviknight and Mega Scizor don’t like taking Hydro Pumps either and also are taken advantage of further with Tera. As for the types of teams Primarina fits on, it’s surprisingly fitting on more offense teams like in regular OU. Maybe some Bulky Calm Mind sets or heck even encore (to lock mons like Ferro. corv, and pex into unfavorable moves while also doing great into disrupting bulkier structures in general) can be used on balance, but my personal favorite uses of Primarina have been more offense geared. Prima is also an enabler of certain wincons as well. Because of how hard it hits, Primarina can dent certain Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Corviknight so Pokemon like Raging Bolt, Encore Iron Valiant, and Mega Scizor sweep easier. Primarina isn’t supposed to be the main wincon into a team; it’s only supposed to break and trade against an opposing team so certain wincons can clean up. It’s typing further allows it to do well in this role as well.
Primarina’s tools and sets
Well, to even talk about an unranked mon that hasn’t really been discussed before, we need to show what sets and tools it has to offer. Let’s go from the more niche sets to the better ones:
Primarina @ Assault Vest
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Flip Turn
- Psychic Noise
This set feels like the most niche to me, but I can see its uses. Most offensive teams don’t really have good checks to Heatran, Darkrai, Zamazenta, and Iron Valiant. This set not only serves as a stopgap into them but also is able to pivot in revenge killers on them, which is an excellent trait for offense teams. This spread makes Prima able to take hits well while also outspeeding max speed mmaw. A great defensive typing, the ability to act as a stopgap into certain Pokémon, and the ability to pivot in Wallbreakers like Mmedi and Darkrai into Pokemon like Glowking and Ferrothorn gives this set its niche. Tera steel also helps into lele and koko.
Primarina @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Torrent / Liquid Voice
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 84 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic Noise / Substitute / Encore
- Scald
- Draining Kiss / Moonblast
This set is a more bulky approach to a calm mind variant, being able to set up on similar mons mentioned above in conjunction with Tera to do well into Pokemon like Slowking Galar, Tapu lele, and even some weakened Ferrothorn. The bulk investment also allows Prima to use its typing to help it set up easier. Draining kiss gives it more longevity, but moonblast is another option for a stronger Fairy stab if you so desire. Psychic Noise can be used with either torrent or Liquid voice, being a really good move in general boosted by stab if using lvoice on top of it hitting pex if you are torrent. Substitute eases prediction against some switches and generally gives it an easier time to setup on Pokemon like Garganacl, Clefable, and Glowking. Encore is niche but can help for the niche I explained earlier along with again giving it more opportunity to setup and the albeit niche ability to do well into sucker mmaw. Encore is also just a generally good move to have. Leftovers helps give Primarina more longevity and is usually preferred, but there is definitely potential in Heavy Duty Boots, as Primarina doesn’t like hazards and it can give it some more opportunities to come in. Tera steel is generally good defensive type while also letting it set up on Glowking and lele while also paving the way for it to seriously chunk Ferrothorn for teammates that don’t like it.
Primarina @ Custap Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute / Psychic Noise
- Hydro Pump
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
This, in my opinion, is the best Primarina set. This set has insane trading capabilities on top of its already good traits mentioned above. This set breaks and trades like crazy into Balances lacking pex (so a lot of gking balances) and lando offenses, being able to trade at least around 2-3 mons against those structures if played correctly. This set fits mainly on Hyper offense teams, which like how it paves the way for sweepers like Mega Scizor and Iron Valiant to clean teams much easier. It’s not completely dead weight into offense either; with good defensive typing and a custap berry, you are able to trade with at least SOMETHING on those structures. Psychic noise is an option as well to allow Primarina to break through Toxapex as well as dismantle bulkier teams easier so other teammates can win easier. Leftovers is an option to give Primarina more longevity as well as pairing well with substitute, but my personal favorite item is custap berry, a normally niche item which allows Prima to really trade effectively while also pairing well with torrent. You prefer hydro pump for its power, but you could also consider scald or surf for its consistency into Tera steel Idbp Zama, although I don’t really recommend that since you can still trade with it in most scenarios. The EVs are max speed so you can outspeed uninvested lando.
Primarina and its teammates
Primarina may have a niche on its own, but in my opinion you can never truly rank a mon correctly without seeing what teammates work well with it and if it’s actually buildable. A great teammate is Lando due to its ability to pivot on electric moves from Pokémon like Raging Bolt, thus making it easier to outplay, while also providing other useful support options. Toxic to weaken offensive checks, Taunt to make breaking a little easier while denying hazards that Prima doesn’t like, being able to use intimidate to make Prima able to take hits from shifu and Weav better, and U turn to pivot in Prima safely. Lando is very common on offensive teams, so this isn’t a large commitment or ask either. On Offensive Calm mind, where Prima fits on hyper offense teams, Iron Valiant is a good teammate because of the ability for both to overwhelm each other’s checks, and this especially applies to encore shadow ball variants of Ival. Raging Bolt is also a good teammate, taking advantage of Toxapex while also checking waterpon. In return, Prima makes playing around grounds and steels like heatran and ting Lu much easier on top of weakening Ferro and Mtar so bolt has a much easier time winning a game. A good defensive backbone for Bulky calm mind and av sets is also appreciated because of its frailty on the physical side and struggles into Offense. These Pokémon can consist of Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Heatran, Gking, and lando. The av set’s main niche in my opinion is gaining momentum for certain breakers, so breakers like Mega Medicham and Weavile that like coming in on Gking, Ferro, and Iron Crown are good partners. Primarina also very much struggles in an Ogerpon-W meta, so Pokemon like Raging Bolt, Rillaboom, and dragonite make for good partners as well.
Primarina VS. It’s competition; why use it over them?
We need to go over this argument because at first glance Prima has no use over its fellow Water type brethren. What is the use in using a mon if it’s niches are outshined? Well for starters, let’s look at a mon you will most obviously look at and think “isn’t this just Primarina but better?”; Tapu Fini. Primarina’s niche over Fini is actually quite easy to explain. Simply, it hits harder and trades better! Prima has 31 spatk points over Fini which makes it much more efficient in breaking down teams. Torrent gives Primarina stupid trading capabilities and is furthered by the custap berry. Liquid voice and psychic noise is also another niche over Fini, giving Prima the ability to deny recovery which is super nice. There are also other offensive waters besides Ogerpon W (which I will get into later) that also compete with Prima, such as shifu and hsam. However, they don’t have Primarina’s Fairy typing and torrent, which gives Prima more setup opportunities as well as arguably better offensive and trading capabilities. Psychic noise is also an obvious niche over them. Ogerpon-W is a stiff contender for a water type breaker, but Prima has the ability to hold items that enhance its abilities further while also having better defensive typing. Does this mean Prima is better than them? By no means, as most of them have more defined niches over Prima, but there are yet still some reasons to use Prima over them. I would also like to mention that Prima has actually been considered for tour games before by actually good players. One example is Pdt, who brought Prima in World Cup, and Velvet, who brought Prima a couple times in winter seasonal. Although it may not have done THAT much in those games, it still shows good players have seen and defined its niche potential.
Some of Primarina’s calcs
+1 252+ SpA Primarina Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking-Galar: 195-231 (49.4 - 58.6%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO - want gking as a check? Not anymore! Tera furthers this calc’s effectiveness too.
+1 252+ SpA Primarina Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Ogerpon-Wellspring: 258-304 (85.7 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO - allows you to trade with pon with Tera if the opposing pon hasn’t tera’d themselves. If they do Tera, then it opens up Pokemon like raging bolt and Rillaboom to be able to revenge kill.
252 SpA Choice Specs Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Primarina: 129-153 (35.4 - 42%) -- guaranteed 3HKO - allows Prima to be a stopgap into ival as mentioned before.
Primarina in action!
Here are some replays of Primarina doing what it needs to do really. Although it’s not sweeping entire teams, these replays show that it’s niche can work in practice.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2127923087-ve4p2pvcth5lflj4ydt6xu1dg95k3ujpw?p2 here is Primarina breaking a gking balance build, ko’ing 3 mons (4 if I didn’t misplay) and weakening corv so encore ival could clean.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2128999326-kqmqmf2oguff9goxzbb6x32f0tfsi3ypw replay of prima trading against zama, an issue for most offense teams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2129073989-j5c4zqvid9sna69raz7j0phzs411opppw replay of, like oculars said, breaking gking so ival could clean and neutralizing pon by making it Tera early and prone to tclap from bolt. This build is also more standard, showing Prima can do well against popular archetypes.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2129667207-vg8dcuebe71i2z5dmigj0smzt0o2jy3pw Replay of bulky cm Prima doing nicely into a balance build, using Tera to setup on lele and being a safe switchin into shifu. It also ko’d around 3 mons, essentially winning the game from there. It also made lele lock into focus blast to not get setup on by prima, allowing it to be exploited easier.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2129692123-g960qos4fna299svmiuoh3ubbudl4ejpw Another replay of prima neutralizing Zama as a threat.
…And that’s all! I hope I was able to make a coherent post about a mon I think has a genuine niche in the tier.