Tapu Lele

Tapu Lele is simply the strongest, most consistent, and most versatile Psychic-type attacker in 1v1. Tapu Lele has a good offensive typing, resisted only by Steel. Its part Fairy typing covers its weaknesses to Bug and Dark due to its part Psychic typing, but Psychic doesn't add much defensively to Fairy, leaving Tapu Lele with notable weaknesses to Steel and Ghost. Its ability Psychic Surge gives it essentially a Choice Specs boost to its Psychic-type attacks while blocking priority that could otherwise defeat it, like Dragonite's Extreme Speed and Mega Lucario's Bullet Punch. It has fair Speed, even when uninvested, allowing it to outspeed most of the slow, bulky attackers in 1v1, including Golem and Primarina. Its good special bulk lets it take some strong special attacks, such as Bug Buzz from Pheromosa and Sludge Wave from Landorus. However, it loses to most Steel-types and faster, powerful Pokemon in 1v1.
=Psychium Z=
Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Def / 252 SpA
Modest / Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast / Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Reflect
==Set Comments==
===Moves===
Psychic is Tapu Lele's main STAB move and takes advantage of Psychic Terrain, which effectively grants it a Choice Specs boost. Psychium Z gives even greater power. Moonblast is its other STAB move, especially needed for the Dark-types that are immune to Psychic. Calm Mind helps beat stall Pokemon, such as Chansey and Slowbro, and some other special attackers like Meloetta and Primarina. Reflect lets Tapu Lele take on numerous slower physical Pokemon that would otherwise beat it, like Gyarados and Golem.
===Set Details===
These EVs allow Tapu Lele to live a Choice Scarf Kyurem-B's Iron Head, even if it uses an Attack-boosting nature. It also increases its chances of living a Mega Charizard X's Flare Blitz. The lack of Speed EVs can be a problem, but more bulk is the more consistent option. 252 Special Attack EVs and a Modest nature are for maximum power.
===Usage Tips===
Try to bring in Tapu Lele against Psychic-weak Pokemon, like Mega Venusaur, or those that have trouble KOing it, like Landorus, as Tapu Lele can KO almost any Pokemon that doesn't resist Shattered Psyche. In some cases, you have to decide whether Z-Reflect or Shattered Psyche would be better to use. Generally, Z-Reflect is good against physical Pokemon slower than Tapu Lele, like Donphan and Celesteela. Shattered Psyche will deal huge damage to any Pokemon that doesn't resist it, and even some that do. It will deal more damage than Tapu Lele's coverage moves, unless the foe resists Psychic and is weak to the coverage move. Calm Mind should be used to beat stall Pokemon, like Chansey, and certain slow special attackers, like Meloetta. Moonblast should generally only be used against Dark-types, like Mega Sableye.
===Team Options===
Tapu Lele does well against both Mega Charizard X and Mega Gyarados, which Pokemon weak to them, like Dragonite and Mimikyu appreciate. It is necessary to pair Tapu Lele with a Pokemon that can beat Steel-types because it has no chance against them. Good teammates include Aegislash, Mega Charizard X, Victini, and Donphan. They all do well against the Ghost- and Steel-types that wreck Tapu Lele. They also have good match-ups against fast Pokemon that can OHKO Tapu Lele like Mega Charizard Y and Mega Pinsir while providing some of the utility that Tapu Lele lacks to beat gimmicks like FEAR and Mega Alakazam.
=Strategy Comments=
==Other Options==
On the Shattered Psyche set, Thunderbolt can replace Moonblast to hit certain Pokemon that resist Psychic and are weak to Electric, like Celesteela and Mega Slowbro. Tapu Lele can hold a Choice Specs instead of Psychium Z and run Hidden Power Fire, as Tapu Lele to pick up some OHKOs against Max HP Genesect and Ferrothorn while not giving up power compared to Shattered Psyche set. Psyshock should also be run with Choice Specs, as it 2HKOes Chansey. However, this set is generally inferior to the Shattered Psyche set because Tapu Lele doesn't gain much power, and loses the utility of Z-Reflect and Calm Mind. Tapu Lele can also use a Choice Scarf to get the drop on and KO some Pokemon that expect to easily outspeed and KO it, like Mega Gengar and Kartana. However, Tapu Lele gives up some power compared to Choice Specs and some amount of power and flexibility compared to the Shattered Psyche set.
==Checks and Counters==
*Steel-types: Just about every Steel-type in 1v1 beats Tapu Lele, which has only Hidden Power Fire to hit them with—and it picks up almost no KOs anyway. Avoid picking Tapu Lele into Metagross, Heatran, Jirachi, or really any of the good Steel-types in 1v1.
*Fast Attackers: Pokemon that can outspeed and OHKO Tapu Lele easily are threats. These include Mega Charizard Y with Blast Burn, Subzero Slammer Kyurem-B, Mega Pinsir with Giga Impact, and physical Tapu Koko.
*Ghost-types: The three common Ghost-types in 1v1, Mega Gengar, Mimikyu, and Aegislash, all beat Tapu Lele with their super effective Ghost-type moves and aren't OHKOed by Tapu Lele.
*Amnesia users: Tapu Lele has almost no chance against Amnesia users like Deoxys-D, Regice, and Mega Slowbro (unless Tapu Lele is running Thunderbolt), even with Calm Mind.
Category:Analyses