Top 5 Best Competitive Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet
If you’re looking to get a leg up on the competition in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, you’re going to want to make sure you have the best Pokémon the game has to offer. According to Pokémon Home, this list of Pokémon are the top choices for the Ranked Singles Battle in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.
Flutter Mane
Ability: Photosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire or Ground
Item: Choice Specs
Nature: Modest (Special Attack Up, Attack Down)
Move Set: Moonblast, Shadow Ball, Tera Blast & Psychock
Flutter Mane, equipped with Choice Specs, is an absolute beast and can easily be an effective sweeper. With dual STAB abilities in its move set, it has nearly perfect coverage for whatever your opponent may throw at you. With Terastalization and the ability to run several different Tera Types, a good Flutter Mane will keep your opponent guessing as they try to determine the best way to counter you.
What makes Flutter Mane so deadly in ranked battles is its Photosynthesis ability which increases its highest stat by 30% in harsh sunlight or when holding a Booster Energy. If your Flutter Mane’s speed is the highest stat, it’ll be increased by 50% instead. But you don’t want to run the Energy Boost; we want Choice Specs. This item boosts your Special Attack by 50%, stacks with Photosynthesis but it does lock you to the first move you use each time it comes out.
Between Moonblast, Shadow Ball, Psyshock and Tera Blast (depending on your Tera type), Flutter Mane has the potential to super effectively one-KO any Pokémon on the field, which is probably why it’s ranked #1 currently.
Dragonite
Ability: Multiscale
Tera Type: Normal
Item: Weakness Policy
Nature: Jolly (Speed Up, Special Attack Down)
Move Set: Outrage, Hurricane, Extreme Speed & Fire Punch.
One of the OG Pokémon from way back, Dragonite continues to be a force to be reckoned with. The ability Weakness Policy helps protect against one-hit KOs in the first round of battle. Meanwhile, with Outrage in your arsenal, it’s possible to deliver the one-hit KO to your opponent so long as they aren’t resistant or immune to Dragon-type or otherwise protected against it like you are. If they are, Hurricane should be your second go-to as a STAB move, though its accuracy isn’t the best.
Extreme Speed will guarantee your Dragonite goes first as it’s a priority move and if your Tera Type is Normal, then it also becomes a STAB move. Finally, with Fire Punch, you also have a weapon against some of the more popular picks in Ranked Battles like Gholdengo or other Steel types. Depending on what typing you find yourself coming across, you can also swap this out for Thunder Punch.
Baxcalibur
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Ground
Item: Assault Vest
Nature: Adamant (Speed Up, Special Attack Down)
Move Set: Icicle Spear, Ice Shard, Glaive Rush & Earthquake.
Dragon typing has always been powerful and popular in Pokémon, so it’s no surprise that Baxcalibur is in the competitive line-up. As an Ice-type, however, you would expect him to be easy to take down but he’s a bulky guy and with a Ground Tera Type, he can nullify some of his usual weaknesses. Thermal Exchange, for example, makes Baxcalibur immune to burn effects and instead increases his attack. He gets this boost every time he’s hit by a fire type attack.
The Assault Vest increases Baxcalibur’s defense even further but does keep him from using moves that cause status effects. But that’s not a problem because we want our beefy boy laying the smackdown anyhow.
So here is how to best utilize his move set, starting with Icicle Spear. It’s one of his weaker moves, but because it can hit multiple times (up to 5), it’s great to use against Pokémon who have an item that can keep them hanging on with one hit point or have the sturdy ability. Ice Shard is a priority move with STAB, so it’s good for any foes who are faster than Baxcalibur. Glaive Rush is its strongest Dragon-type move with STAB, but it should be used with caution and only when you know you have your opponent on the ropes because you take double damage on your next turn.
Finally, Earthquake is your move for when you Terastallize since it receives STAB at that point and allows you great neutral coverage regardless of what you may be fighting.
Gholdengo
Ability: Good As Gold
Tera Type: Steel
Item: Covert Cloak
Nature: Timid (Speed Up, Attack Down)
Move Set: Make It Rain, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt & Nasty Plot.
Gholdengo is a new addition to the roster of competitive Pokémon introduced in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Between the ability Good As Gold and the held item Covert Cloak, Gholdengo is immune to all stat lower conditions and secondary effects from moves such as Paralysis or Burn.
You’ll want to use Nasty Plot to raise his Special Attack stat whenever you have a free turn to do so. And between Make It Rain and Shadow Ball, you should have great coverage for counters. In the case that your opponent throws a meaty Water-Type your way, you have Thunder Punch to help overcome them.
Finally, its Steel Tera-Typing helps protect you from Gholdengo’s biggest threats in Ghost and Dark types.
Iron Moth
Ability: Choice Scarf
Tera Type: Fire
Item: Quark Drive
Nature: Modest (Special Attack Up, Attack Down)
Move Set: Fiery Dance, Sludge Wave, Discharge & U-Turn.
Iron Moth is exclusive to Pokémon Violet, so anyone with Pokémon Scarlet will need to do some trading. But they’re very high in the competitive scene for a reason. They can be a heavy hitter and are fast on the battlefield.
Thanks to Iron Moth’s incredible offensive stats, you can elect to use a Choice Scarf over the Choice Specs to boost its speed high enough to help overcome the other inherently fast Pokémon you may encounter.
Sludge Wave and Fiery Dance both have STAB, which makes them extremely effective. Fiery Dance even has a chance to increase your Special Attack, which is already high for Iron Moth and the reason you run Choice Scarf instead of the Specs. Since you’re running a Fire Tera Type, you’ll want to be careful of any Pokémon that can hit this with a super effective move and, as a result, use U-Turn to get out of trouble ASAP.
The Pokémon Ranked Meta is constantly changing and evolving. So be sure to check back often to see if the Top 5 Best Competitive Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has shifted or if you need to change up your line-up to stay on top.
