Overview
Porygon-Z is one of the morest versatile Pokemon of the 1v1 metagame, its typing being walled by only by Rock-, Steel-, and Ghost-types, which are either rare, or frail enough specially for Porygon-Z to OHKO them with its raw power. With its wide variety of viable moves alongside stats that get the job done, Porygon-Z manages to threaten a vast majority of the entire metagame. Stats-wise, Porygon-Z has monstrousastoundingly high Special Attack, backed up withby relatively good Speed, with everything elseits other stats being pretty lackluster. Due to the fact that its Speed doesn't allow it to act before many common threats of 1v1, Porygon-Z commonly likes to useruns a Choice Scarf so that it can do just that, its sSpeed becoming high enough to allow it to outpace both Mega Charizard Mega EvolutionsX and Y, Greninja, and Gyarados after a Dragon Dance, and more, safely either OHKO-ing or 2HKO-ing them. That being said, thoughHowever, there are Pokemon that are faster than it, and that can run a Choice Scarf as well, and since Porygon-Z's bulk isn't that great, it usually needs either the defensive investment necessary to withstand an attack or its second most common set, involving a Custap Berry paired with the move Endure so that Porygon-Zit can withstand an attack from the opponentfoe and then attackstrike first on the next turn thanks to its Custap Berry, giving it similar, if not even wider coverage capability than wielding aits Choice Scarf set. Unfortunately, there will always be thingsPokemon that generally have the upper hand against most Porygon-Z sets, all of which being either Pokemon that resist Porygon-Z's typeNormal, such as Mawile, Rhyperior, Metagross, and Aggron, and other Rock-, Steel, or Ghost types or-, and Ghost-types, as well as Pokemon that are just generally bulky specially, such as Meloetta, and Dragonite, and more. That being said. Nevertheless, Porygon-Z is still, in fact, capable of taking on most of these threats through sacrificing any means of attacking before speedy opponents by choosing to wield the Choice Specs, an item that makes Porygon-Zwhich makes it so powerful, that it can take on most of its threats that it can either withstand an attack from or outspeed in a single attack.
[Choice Scarf]
Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe or EVs: 128 Def / 156 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature or Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Uproar
Set Comments
Moves
Hyper Beam is easily the best move for Porygon-Z to use, since, in combination with its Choice Scarf allowing it to outspeed most thingsPokemon, this move alone blanket checks a vast majority of all Pokemon that don't have enoughlack a sufficient amount of bulk to withstand being hit by it. Thunderbolt doesn't serve as general of a purpose as Hyper Beam, but it instead allows Porygon-Z to safely 2HKO non-bulky Mega Gyarados-Mega, as well as OHKO Greninja, or 2HKO if Greninjat if it tries to PP stall Porygon-Z by using Shadow Sneak. Trick makes Porygon-Z capable of taking down many stall-oriented Pokemon by locking them into using only one move with its Choice Scarf, such as Chansey, Togekiss, and other less common threatTogekiss. Uproar is generally a superior move to the common Tri- Attack, as it's more powerful, goes through Substitute, and blocks opponentfoes from using Ssleep-inducing moves of any kind.
Set Details
The Timid spreadA spread of 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with a Timid nature is mainly used for people that are intimidated by Mega Alakazam or otherpposing Porygon-Z users,; otherwise the Modest spread, a spread of 128 Def / 156 SpA / 224 Spe with a Modest nature is universally more viable, seeing as Mega Alakazam is a rarity these days, and thatquite rare and you ideally want to take away any 50/50 chances from your teams, rather than adding on to them. The Modest spread is builtalso used for the express purpose of being capable of withstanding a neutral -natured Kyurem-Black's Outrage more than 4st of the times out of 5, while also often OHKO-ing back with Hyper Beam over 4 times out of 5. The Speed has exactly enough Effort Values for. 224 Speed EVs allow Porygon-Z to outspeed a Jolly Mega Lopunny, since that is the highest sSpeed a viable 1v1 Pokemon has without being a scarf of its ownnon-Choice Scarf Pokemon has. Thankfully, losing out on a solid chunk of its EVs for Special Attack doesn't really affect it too heavily, only really reducing the chances of OHKO-ing bulky Mega Charizard- Y and Mega Gardevoir.
Usage Tips
There isn't really too much to learn when it comes to the usualWith Choice Scarf Porygon-Z set, most of the time you just click Hyper Beam and win. That being said, there are a handful of situations where Hyper Beam would not be the ideal move to use, such as when you're against Gyarados; Mega Gyarados has the raw Sspecial bulk to shrug off a Hyper Beam, allowing it to 2HKO Porygon-Z, and as such, Thunderbolt or Uproar comes in handy (Adaptability makes Uproar equal to a 2x effective Thunderbolt), either move being capable of 2HKO-ing Gyarados while Gyarados cannot OHKO in return without using Dragon Dance, but, unfortunately for Gyarados, it is still slower than Porygon-Z after a Dragon Dance thanks to Porygon-Z's Choice Scarf. Additionally, in the event you're faced with Porygon-Z vsfacing Aggron, Thunderbolt is capable of knocking out 2HKOing Aggron in two hits if Aggron uses Metal Burst instead of Head Smash for an easy OHKO.
A common trend among Porygon-Z is the random need to run Ice Beam, when the move is pretty much completely unnecessary, since Hyper Beam already OHKO's Garchomp, and Dragonite withstandtanks an Ice Beam,; even Whimsicott is more scared oftakes more damage from Uproar than Ice Beam, and other than those Pokemon, there is nothing else that is frequent enough in the 1v1 metagame for Ice Beam to warrant any significance.
Team Options
Some of the biggest threats to Porygon-Z are two of the centralizing Steel -types, Mega Mawile and Metagross, and as such, Choice Scarfed Porygon-Z likes being backed up by something that can break said Steel types,-types; in particular, Mega Charizard- X. The two pair up so well, that the combination of them manages to cover all the S and A ranks, other than a handful of unique sets.
most of the viable threats in the metagame. If you aren't very particular about running specific EV spreads to counteract Choice Scarfed Kyurem-Black, then another option to have in mind would be Rhyperior, whoich has the raw bulk and power to take on many of the threatening Steel -types that threaten Porygon-Z, while also supporting the combination of Mega Charizard- X and Porygon-Z to iron out most of the weaknesses of those two combined as well.
Lastly, if you're not interested in playing mind games with whether or not to have Mega Charizard- X use Substitute against Meloetta, yet another option that assists Choice Scarf Porygon-Z ANDand does the trick against Meloetta is Mega- Pinsir, who mercilessich easily OHKO's Meloetta with Giga Impact, while also supporting Porygon-Z against Bbulky Mega Charizard-Y, who Y, which is capable of surviving a Hyper Beam from Porygon-Z and infrequently carries Substitute to make it capable of counteractingtaking on Mega Pinsir.
[Custap Berry]
Porygon-Z @ Custap Berry
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Endure
- Nasty Plot
- Hyper Beam
- Thunderbolt or whatever alternative coverage you want/need at the moment
Set Comments
Moves
Seeing as this setup of Porygon-Z relies on the Custap Berry, Endure is a completely necessary move to activate it, while at the same time, also allowing Porygon-Z to gain priority over Pokemon that would have otherwise been faster than it, if it were using a Choice Scarf, such as Choice Scarfed Latios and Kyurem-Black, as well as giving it an edge over Choiced recharge move users, likesuch as Meloetta, if they're silly enough to use Hyper Beam,; rival Porygon-Z, Slaking, and other similar cases of Endure shenanigans; and Slaking. Nasty Plot gives Porygon-Z the chance to improve the power of its Hyper Beam to even greater lengths than that of Choice Specs Porygon-Z, but at the expense of a turn; all things considered, thanks to its Defense EVs, Porygon-Z is able to withstand a large number of attacks just well enough for Nasty Plot not to go to waste, even going so far as to make it capable of OHKO-ing Chansey. Hyper Beam, as always, never fails to disappoint, and is necessary on just about every Porygon-Z so it can OHKO everything. Porygon-Z's last move slot is variable, since there are no moves that it actually needs in the fourth slot,; even Nasty Plot is debatable, and as such, I put Thunderbolt thereis an option, since it gives Porygon-Z a safe option for 2HKO-ing Gyarados, while also having a solid chance at 2HKO-ing Aggron.
Set Details
The maxedMaximum Defense EVs allows Porygon-Z to withstand an Outrage from a Choice Scarfed Kyurem-Black, as well as having a 70%good chance of withstanding a Flare Blitz/ or Outrage from an Adamant Mega Charizard-X, and even making X. It even makes it capable of going tone-ton-tone with Mega Mawile, though Porygon-Z can only win if you're incredibly good at predicting when the opponent isn't going to use Sucker Punch. Otherwise, the SpA EVs work pretty much the same as Scarfed Porygon-Z, being maxed outThe Special Attack EVs are maximum for the sake of OHKO-ing everything, though you can afford to drop some of them, if there is a specific Pokemon you need to counteract at the moment, otherwise maxed out has the widest general coverage.
Usage Tips
Now, since this is yet another user of Endure + Custap shenanigans, tThere will always be a lot of predictions going around, specifically once an opponent has learned that you're liable to use the strategy. In particular, if a Mega Charizard- X user has learned that you're using a Custap + Endure Porygon-Z, then there's no worry about predictions, since you know he's a Charizard-X user,they're a Mega Charizard X user; all you need to do is spam Hyper Beam, even if they use Substitute, since most Mega Charizard- X users just attack straight away instead of using Dragon Dance to secure the Gguaranteed OHKO, which in turn, will whittle you down to Custap range, thus allowing you to attack first and wipe them away with Hyper Beam. Secondly, the dDefense EVs allow Porygon-Z to withstand a +1 attack from Gyarados, meaning that there is no need to use Endure after they've used Dragon Dance once, unless you're not running maximum Defense. Aggron cannot OHKO 252 Defense Porygon-Z unless they're Choice Banded instead of a Mega Evolution, meaning that Porygon-Z can 2HKO with Thunderbolt, or the combination of Thunderbolt + Hyper Beam, if they decide to Mega Evolve. When you're up against rivalopposing Porygon-Z that you know are Choice Scarfed, use Endure; the automatic first instinct of a Choice Scarf Porygon-Z user against another Porygon-Z user is to click Hyper Beam, and as such, Endure negates that; but. However, once you get to fight this opponent again with the same matchup, their usual second instinct is to use Trick, figuring that they'll outsmart you with it, not realizing that now you're running Choice Scarfed, while they aren't, thus allowing you to outspeed and OHKO.
Team Options
Unfortunately, Custap Berry Porygon-Z is still threatened by most of the meta-controlling Steel Tgame-defining Steel-types, meaning that Mega Charizard- X is, yet again, a viable partner for it, since it does the job well at breaking many Steel T-types. In addition, Rhyperior also handles most of the Steel T-types that threaten Custap Berry Porygon-Z, sporting the type coverage, and raw stats +, and ability to stand up to just about any Steel T-type. Since Custap Berry Porygon-Z has no fear of Kyurem-Black, this means that you can safely run Choice Banded Garchomp to assist it, since it OHKO'es just about all of the highest ranked viable Pokemon that threaten it.
[Choice Specs]
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Download or/ Adaptability
EVs: 252 Def / 236 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Hyper Beam
- Uproar
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Fire]/alternative coverage
Set Comments
Moves
As on every Porygon-Z set, Hyper Beam is a necessity to ensure the OHKO's on everything that this Pokemon threatens, in addition to many new ones, such as Mawile, which is either normally OHKO'either OHKOed by Download Hyper Beam, or has a 2/3good chance of being OHKO'ed from Adaptability Hyper Beam, both situations assuming Mawile has 252 EVs in HP; in addition to Mawile, Choice Specs-boosted Hyper Beam also threatens 252 HP Rhyperior with very similar chances of being OHKO'd; and on top of thatOHKOing it. Furthermore, Adaptability -boosted Hyper Beam even OHKO'es Meloetta, one of the few threats to Porygon-Z that doesn't rely on type advantages.
On Choice Specs Porygon-Z, Uproar has a little more use than just hitting Whimsicott and other predicted Substitute users; with Adaptability, Uproar is a guaranteed OHKO against Mega Charizard- X, and even a 3/4good chance with Download, assuming the Charizard has no bulk, meaning that Choice Specs Porygon-Z has no fear of Substitute Mega Charizard-X, o X. On the other hand, a Download-boosted Uproar manages to OHKO Kyurem-Black, meaning each ability has their positive gains.
Choice Trick works as well as always, changinges very little in coverage when Tricking a Choice Specs vs awith a Choice Scarf, but still threatening stall equally as well.
Hidden Power Fire takes Thunderbolt's place on this set, since it no longer needs Thunderbolt for handling Gyarados, due to Hyper Beam now being capable of OHKO-ing. Hidden Power Fire is Porygon-Z's coverage move that gives it the widest general coverage, since most of its other coverage options just allow it to beat one or two Pokemon at a time, while Hidden Power Fire grants Porygon-Z coverage against Scizor and Ferrothorn, neither of which are overly common, but used often enough to warrant significance, and more importantly, Mega Mawile, whoich gets OHKO'ed by a Download -boosted hit, in the event you don't feel like risking the 10% chance of missing Hyper Beam, or the possibility of them running Endure. While on the other hand, if you're using Adaptability, Hidden Power Fire replaces Thunderbolt's role of relatively safely 2HKO-ing Aggron, since it doesn't deal enough damage for Metal Burst to KO back, and Porygon-Z's bulk should allow it to withstand at least a single attack from Aggron, assuming it isn't Banded.
Set Details
Similar to Custap Berry Porygon-Z, Choice Specs Porygon-Z is outfitted withhas a large amount of bulk that, which makes it capable of standing up to the incredibly common threats of physicalsuch as Choice Scarf Kyurem-Black, and Mega Charizard- X, but this particular set has a pinchbit of Speed investment added on for the rare, but still possible event thatin case it manages to use Trick against a Choice Scarf Jirachi or other base 100 Speed Pokemon, allowing it to become faster and 2HKO before Jirachi finishes it off, since Porygon-Z's Defense investment forces Iron Head into the 3HKO range, t. Thankfully, taking away from Porygon-Z's Special Attack doesn't make all that many big differences as to what it can and can't KO, but if you like having as much of a KO percentage as possible against a particular Pokemon that you're seeing on the ladder, you can choose to take away from Porygon-Z's Defense instead of Special Attack.
Usage Tips
One of the biggest things to remember when using Choice Specs Porygon-Z is that it generally doesn't have to worry about type disadvantages against most common threats in 1v1, since it's capable of blasting away Mawile, Rhyperior, and Aggron, and others just through raw power. One such example would be against Golem, albeit, Golemwhich may not be the most common Pokemon in 1v1, but it still gets used enough for this tip to merit attention; Choice Specs Uproar, regardless of ability, 2HKO'es Golem, while Porygon-Z's Defense EVs protect it from being 2HKO'ed, unless Golem is packing Superpower, which they generally don't. Choice Specs Uproar even 2HKO'es Magnezone, though you'd have to work around a lot of EVs to safely counteract it, since most Magnezone either carry a Custap Berry to 2HKO Porygon-Z, or have Choice Specs of their own to OHKO Porygon-Z.
Team Options
Choice Specs Porygon-Z actually covers a very different field from Scarf Porygon-Z, being more built to threatens many of the things that would threaten Scarf Porygon-Z, meaning that one of the betterst allies for Choice Specs Porygon-Z would be Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, seeing as the two alone have coverage against all of the S and A ranks combined, as well as threatening a large chunk of the lower ranks.
Alternatively, a Sspecially biased Choice Scarf Kyurem-Black makes for a nice companion, since it threatens any non-Scarfed Kyurem-Black variants that would have otherwise threatened Choice Specs Porygon-Z, as well as handling thingsPokemon that still have the raw power to OHKO Porygon-Z through its Defense EVs, such as Dragonite, Garchomp, and Mega Pinsir. It doesn't really need the physical side for anything more than coverage moves for Porygon-Z threats with quad weaknesses, such as Mega Charizard- Y and Mega Heracross.
Lastly, for all the threats to Porygon-Z that have the bulk and/or type resistance to stand up to Choice Specs Porygon-Z, there's Whimsicott, acting as a strong anti-stall with Taunt, and being unable to be OHKO'ed by most attacks from these types of threats.
Strategy Comments
Other Options
Other than its main moves, Choice Scarfed and Custap Berry Porygon-Z isare also capable of running various coverage moves that will allow it to defeat other, less common, threats to it, such as Psyshock for Gengar, Hidden Power Fire for Scizor and Ferrothorn, Rest on Choice Scarf Porygon-Z so that way it can safely guarantee that it beats most stall-oriented Pokemon after using Trick, and even going as far as Conversion in tandem with Shadow Ball to counteract Meloetta and other Porygon-Z.
As mentioned in the move explanations, Thunderbolt is only a secondary move option, since it only provides coverage against a specific selection of Pokemon. Just about all of, though for Custap Berry Porygon-Z's alternative moves are the same as Scarfed Porygon-Z's alternative moves, being Psyshock for Gengar, and Hidden Power Fire for Scizor/Ferrothron. That being said, Shadow Ball + Conversion is no longer doable, unless you're willing, you'll have to sacrifice Nasty Plot. Rest, while still being a usable move to threaten Stall with, isn't quite as viable on Custap Berry Porygon-Z, since it doesn't have the factor of forcing the opponent into being locked into using only one move working with it, that being said,
Recover is actually an option for Custap Berry Porygon-Z, if noto for anything else, then at least for the sake of counteracting Mawile's attempts at using Sucker Punch, even though it is very realistically possible for Sucker Punch to KO after using a Recover, after Porygon-Z has been hit with a Play Rough, though it definitely still helps.
As mentioned earlier, Porygon-Z doesn't really have many options for coverage that beat more than just individual Pokemon, examples being Ice Beam/can run Ice Beam or Blizzard for Dragonite (Ice Beam OHKO'ess non-bulky, while Blizzard OHKO'es all variants); Shadow Ball/ or Dark Pulse, which can take on Ghost -types that don't beat Porygon-Z as well as OHKO a Metagross if Porygon-Z has Download; Thunder, which is capable of 2HKO-ing a Heatran and +1 Special Defense Sableye, as long as it gets the Download boost; various Hidden Powers for counteracting specific Pokemon that have quad weaknesses to them, if Hyper Beam doesn't do the job; and Rest, just in case Porygon-Z wants to outstall a Pokemon that's been Tricked.
Checks and Counters
Custap Berry Porygon-Z, while removing offensive threats due to being able to outprioritize them, or withstand their attacks, unfortunately gains defensive threats, due to the lack of Choice-locking with Trick.
Since Choice Specs Porygon-Z doesn't have either speed or priority backing it up like the other two sets, many things that are faster than it can be threatening, particularly on the special side.
Charizard-Y: OutspeedsMega Charizard Y: Mega Charizard Y outspeeds Choice Specs Porygon-Z and OHKO'es it with just about any Fire-type move, while also being a threat to Custap Berry Porygon-Z once it learns which set it is.
Kyurem-Black: Choice Scarfed Kyurem-Black threatens to OHKO Choice Scarfed Porygon-Z with Outrage if Porygon-Z doesn't have bulk, while Banded/Choice Band or Choice Specs Kyurem-Black threaten Choice Specs Porygon-Z withby OHKO-ing it, though it usually loses to Custap Berry Porygon-Z, unless it can predict right.
Mega Mawile: TMega Mawile tanks a Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Porygon-Z and 2HKO'es Custap Berry Porygon-Z before Porygon-Z can 2HKO it back, unless Porygon-Z manages to win the Sucker Punch ppPP stall mind games.
Porygon-Z: OPorygon-Z only really threatens Choice Specs Porygon-Z, since either Scarf or Custap Berry are the more common sets that it runs.
Greninja: OGreninja only threatens Choice Specs Porygon-Z, since this set lacks a method of going before Greninja.
Deoxys-Defense: G: Deoxys-D generally loses due to being Tricked a Choice-Tricked, bu item but it can potentially blockTaunt Choice Specs Porygon-Z out of using Trick with Taunt if it's faster than Porygon-Z. Both Pokemon each end up playing mind games as to who'at is using which set, as well.
Dragonite: TDragonite threatens to OHKO Choice Scarf and Custap Berry Porygon-Z with its Choice Band-boosted Outrage/ or Superpower, while losing tothough it loses to a Choice Specs-boosted Ice Beam/ or Blizzard, if it's slower than Choice Specs Porygon-Z.
Meloetta: Meloetta handles Choice Scarf Porygon-Z with ease due to its bulk and power,. It's also being capable of threatening Custap Berry Porygon-Z with the same power, despite losing to Endure if Meloetta uses Hyper Beam. As forChoice Specs Porygon-Z, it only loses to Adaptability Choice Specs Hyper Beam, and ends up in a Speed- creeping war with the Porygon-Z.
Garchomp: OGarchomp only threatens Choice Specs Porygon-Z with a less than 60% chance of OHKO-ing it with Outrage.
Mega Pinsir: OMega Pinsir outspeeds Custap Berry and Choice Specs Porygon-Z and has a very probable chance of OHKO-ing them with Close Combat, and. It also usually carries Protect to negate Custap Berry Porygon-Z, though it loses to Choice Scarf Porygon-Z in the event that it doesn't have Endure.
Rhyperior: HRhyperior has the Rock typing that gives it the resist against Scarf Porygon-Z'sa resistance to Hyper Beam and OHKO'ses Choice Scarf Porygon-Z in return with Rock Wrecker.; T, though Earthquake is now reduced to little more than a 1/3 chance of OHKO-ing Custap Berry Porygon-Z,. Rock Wrecker and Superpower still do the job, however, meaning that Porygon-Z loses if Rhyperior has Superpower, orand the battle becomes reduced to whether or not Rhyperior uses Rock Wrecker.
Whimsicott: Since being locked into Uproar isn't good for a non-Choiced Porygon-Z, Custap Berry Porygon-Z's only means of handling Whimsicott involve using moves that would otherwise only counteract this specific Pokemon.
Mega Gardevoir: OMega Gardevoir outspeeds and OHKO'es non-Choice Scarf Porygon-Z with either Hyper Voice or Hyper Beam, but it loses to Choice Scarf Porygon-Z if it has no bulk investment, and it also loses to Custap Berry Porygon-Z if it lacks Protect, triggers the Custap Berry, and doesn't have the bulk to stand up to a Hyper Beam.
Mega Metagross: RMega Metagross resists Choice Scarf Porygon-Z's Hyper Beam and 2HKO'ses it in return with its STAB moves, or OHKO'es with Hammer Arm.; Would It only loses to Custap Berry Porygon-Z if it wereisn't running either Hammer Arm or Bullet Punch.; If speedy If it is running a faster spread, it can outspeed Choice Specs Porygon-Z and OHKO with Hammer Arm before Porygon-Z gets a chance to use Shadow Ball/ or Dark Pulse.