Mega Lopunny

With a great movepool, Speed tier, Attack stat, and ability, Mega Lopunny is a powerful force in the metagame. Good STAB moves in High Jump Kick, Giga Impact, and Flail as well as Fake Out to disrupt Sturdy, Disguise, and Multiscale users allows Lopunny to cover a lot of threats. Mega Lopunny's great Speed tier allows it to outspeed most threats, only being outsped by Pheromosa and Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele and Porygon-Z. A solid Attack stat enables Lopunny to KO most threats with the combination of Fake Out and another attack. Mega Lopunny's ability, Scrappy, is useful for beating Ghost-types like Mimikyu and Aegislash. All this allows Lopunny to beat top-tier threats such as non-Choice Scarf Kyurem-B, Tapu Koko, Dragonite, and Charizard, barring bulky Mega Charizard X. However, Lopunny loses to most bulky attackers that can take the combination of Fake Out + Giga Impact, High Jump Kick, or Flail, such as Magearna, Mega Metagross, and Mega Blastoise, since its frailty makes it take huge amounts of damage from any hit. Lopunny is also walled by most bulky foes like Mega Slowbro and Mega Venusaur. Lastly, Mega Lopunny's frailty makes it easy bait for even faster attackers like +1 Mega Blaziken, Choice Scarf Kyurem-B, and Choice Scarf Porygon-Z.
=All-Out Attacker=
Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Giga Impact
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
==Set Comments==
===Moves===
Fake Out breaks Sturdy, Dragonite's Multiscale, and Mimikyu's Disguise and provides valuable chip damage on foes. Giga Impact is a really powerful STAB attack, capable of OHKOing most threats after Fake Out. High Jump Kick is a secondary STAB move and hits Pokemon like Kyurem-B, Aegislash, and Snorlax. Ice Punch is a decent coverage move and can KO most Dragonite variants after Fake Out, allows Lopunny to beat Garchomp, and can beat some Landorus-T variants.
===Set Details===
Maximum Attack and Speed investment maximizes Lopunny's offensive capabilities. A Jolly nature takes advantage of Mega Lopunny's great Speed tier, allowing it to outspeed foes like Greninja and Mega Gengar. Alternatively, an Adamant nature gives Mega Lopunny a much higher chance of beating Landorus-T as well as other Pokemon such as bulky Kyurem-B. Scrappy after Mega Evolving lets Mega Lopunny hit Ghost-types, in turn letting it beat Mega Gengar, Mimikyu, and Aegislash.
===Usage Tips===
Bring out Lopunny when predicting the opponent to use a Pokemon like Icium Z Kyurem-B or Tapu koko. Be wary, though, that some Kyurem-B variants are bulky enough to survive the combination of Fake Out and High Jump Kick. In most cases, use Fake Out first, following it up with the appropriate attack. This attack is usually Giga Impact, since it has the most power against neutral targets. Avoid bringing out Lopunny against faster threats like Pheromosa and potential Choice Scarf users like Porygon-Z and Pokemon that are too bulky for Mega Lopunny to break, like Magearna. Use Lopunny to scare out fast, offensive, frail Pokemon such as Mega Gengar and Tapu Koko for teammates to take advantage of.
===Team Options===
Slower offensive Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados and Mega Pinsir appreciate Lopunny beating faster threats like Tapu Koko. Mega Pinsir can also beat Mega Venusaur for Lopunny in return. Bulky Mega Charizard X can deal with bulky Steel-types like Magearna, Mega Aggron, and Mega Mawile, which Lopunny has trouble against. Tapu Koko deters Gyarados and Mawile from coming in; physical Tapu Koko and Mega Lopunny can also both lure in Magearna for Tapu Koko to take out. Tapu Koko also appreciates Mega Lopunny beating most Dragonite variants and taking on some Sturdy users like Magnezone and Golem.
=SubFlail=
Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Flail
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
==Set Comments==
===Moves===
Substitute, after four uses, puts Lopunny at a very low amount of HP and gives Flail maximum power. It also protects Lopunny from status moves like Leech Seed and Will-O-Wisp and can scout for potential Z-Moves. Flail has 200 Base Power when Lopunny is very low on HP and is capable of OHKOing most threats after Fake Out damage. Fake Out breaks Sturdy, Multiscale, and Disguise on Magnezone, Dragonite, and Mimikyu and also gets useful chip damage on other threats. High Jump Kick is a good Fighting-type STAB attack that hits Pokemon like Snorlax, Magnezone, and Aegislash.
===Set Details===
Maximum Attack investment gives Mega Lopunny lots of power. Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature allows Mega Lopunny to outspeed almost every threat in the metagame besides Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele and Porygon-Z and some unboosted threats like Pheromosa. Scrappy is a useful post-Mega ability, as Lopunny would otherwise be walled by Ghost-types such as Mimikyu and Mega Gengar.
===Usage Tips===
It is best to bring out Lopunny when predicting the opposition to use a fast and frail Pokemon like Mega Gengar. Lopunny should also be picked against certain bulky Pokemon attempting to take advantage of Mega Lopunny, such as Mega Venusaur and Mega Gyarados. Substitute should almost always be used repeatedly until Lopunny can no longer use it, giving Flail maximum Base Power. However, Substitute doesn't need to be used against Pokemon High Jump Kick is more useful against, like Snorlax, Porygon-Z, and Magnezone. Fake Out should be used first against most Pokemon to get chip damage and to break Sturdy, Multiscale, and Disguise; don't use Fake Out against Garchomp, though, because Rough Skin damage will reduce Flail's overall power once Lopunny can no longer make more Substitutes. Whimsicott can also lock Lopunny into Fake Out with Encore, and Mimikyu can use Protect to block it. Avoid sending Lopunny out against priority users such as Mega Pinsir, Donphan, and Dragonite, as they can easily KO Lopunny when it's low on HP after using Substitute. Similarly, avoid bringing Lopunny into faster threats like Pheromosa and Mega Blaziken, since its advantage lies in its Speed tier allowing it to use Substitute before being attacked.
===Team Options===
Both Mega Charizard Y and Mega Charizard X can deal with Steel-types like Mega Mawile and Magearna that beat Mega Lopunny. Strong one-time hitters like Greninja, Mega Charizard Y, and Mega Pinsir appreciate Mega Lopunny beating Sturdy and Disguise users like Magnezone and Mimikyu. In return, Mega Pinsir and Mega Charizard Y can deal with Mega Venusaur for Lopunny. Bulkier Pokemon like Mega Aggron can take on the priority users such as Dragonite and Donphan that threaten Lopunny. Strong wallbreakers like Tapu Lele and Donphan can take on bulky foes that Lopunny struggles against, like Mega Venusaur and Magearna.
=Strategy Comments=
==Other Options==
Encore can lock some Pokemon into bad moves, like Mega Venusaur with Leech Seed, but it isn't really useful outside of that.
==Checks and Counters==
*Bulky Attackers: Pokemon such as Mega Mawile, Mega Metagross, and Magearna are able to easily take Lopunny's attacks thanks to their good bulk. They can then retaliate and OHKO Mega Lopunny.
*Faster Attackers: Threats even faster than Lopunny like Choice Scarf Kyurem-B and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele can OHKO Lopunny due to its frailty before taking large damage.
*Priority Users: Priority users like Donphan and Dragonite can KO Substitute + Flail Lopunny, since it needs to be at a very low amount of HP to use Flail effectively.
*Intimidate Users: Gyarados and Mega Mawile can use Intimidate to allow them to survive Mega Lopunny's attacks and attack hard in return.
*Physically Bulky Pokemon: Most Pokemon capable of taking Fake Out + Giga Impact or High Jump Kick can usually beat Lopunny. Notable examples include Mega Venusaur, Mega Aggron, and Mega Slowbro.
Category:Analyses