Legendary Pokémon

Pokemon of the Week DP: Yanmega

Sets

Speed Boost Sweeper

Item Held

Life Orb / Expert Belt

Ability

Speed Boost

Nature

Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)

Effort Points

252 Special Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP / Defense

• Bug Buzz
• Air Slash
• Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Ice / Psychic
• Protect

When your opponent's Pokémon that can take on Yanmega are taken out, this annoying bug can sweep their team quite easily. Protect on the first turn, allowing the first Speed Boost to kick in and let you outspeed virtually anything. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are here for STAB. Bug Buzz destroys Psychic types, particularly Celebi, and Air Slash easily OHKOs Infernape, Heracross and Breloom while dealing some decent damage to other Fighting-types like Machamp. Also, a 30% chance to flinch your opponent's Pokémon is always welcome. Hidden Power Ground lets you hit the Steel-types that would otherwise wall you, especially Heatran and Magnezone who both get OHKOed. Hidden Power Ice is for Salamence, Garchomp and co. If you cannot get either Hidden Power, Psychic is the best replacement, but Steel-types still wall you.

A little note about the suggested Effort Points. Unlike what happens with most Pokémon, those 4 EPs (or 6) really matter. You have to make sure that your HP stat is an odd number so that Yanmega can survive two switch-ins with Stealth Rock in play. So, where to place those last EPs depends on your HP IV.

Reversal

Item Held

Liechi Berry

Ability

Speed Boost

Nature

Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)

Effort Points

252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP / Defense

• Endure / Substitute
• Reversal
• Night Slash
• Hypnosis / Protect

Reversal Yanmega here. Sure, there are better Reversalers out there but Yanmega's Speed Boost ability make it a quite good one too. Endure their hit, become faster, activate Liechi and sweep with that overpowered Reversal. Night Slash is for those stupid Ghosts that think they can ruin your fun. Hypnosis prevents their Physical Wall from using a recovery move. However, with Sandstorm being everywhere in the current OU metagame, Yanmega has to face some problems that other Reversalers (Scizor, Lucario) get away with. So, replacing Endure with Substitute is not a bad idea as it can reach the Reversal range with more safety. But faster Pokémon like Aerodactyl become a real pain now, so adding Protect instead of Hypnosis will help. (The same note about EPs applies here too.)

Other Possible Options

Using Hypnosis instead of Protect on the first set could work but it's kind of risky. Other Hidden Power types can be used for taking down Pokémon 4x weak to them, like Hidden Power Electric for Gyarados or Hidden Power Fighting for Tyranitar (which is not recommended at all as Bug Buzz 2HKOs the mighty dinosaur), but their use is always situational at best. U-Turn is Yanmega's only other good option for hitting and fleeing immediately.

As far as items go, stuffing a Choice Specs on Yanmega seems like a good idea at first but it isn't. Choice item users have to switch a lot and with Stealth Rock chipping away 50% of Yanmega's HP every time it switches in, it will die really easily making it a worse-than-average Choice Specs user.

Counters

Unless Reversal is in the set, Blissey will freely switch in and start singing "Can't Touch This". If Yanmega lacks Hidden Power Ground, Heatran comes in and KOs with any STABed Fire-type move. So does Magnezone with Electric-type moves. Empoleon can do the job too with Ice Beam. Skarmory can get some hits and either Whirlwind Yanmega away or just attack with Drill Peck/Brave Bird. However, Skarmory just hates being flinched by Air Slash.

Moreover, any Rock-type move will OHKO Yanmega but it won't be easy to land a hit with its Speed Boost ability. Stealth Rock also ruins Yanmega's plans as said above.

Opinion & Notes

Yanma was just a mediocre Underused Pokémon in Advance but its evolved form is much better. Better stats, more moves, Special STABs, Night Slash, Hypnosis' improved accuracy, Life Orb, Expert Belt… So many new additions that can set it in the upper Borderline tier and even let it sweep some OU teams. However, using Yanmega with Rapid Spin support is essential, otherwise Stealth Rock will stop you. But still, I suppose a Pokémon that can 2HKO Tyranitar and Cresselia and OHKO Heracross and Infernape is really worth a spot in a competitive team.

Permanent link |

←Pokemon of the Week DP: Arcanine - Pokemon of the Week DP: Hippowdon→