Tapu Fini [QC 0/2]

[BARABOY]

[OVERVIEW]

• Great support movepool, with access to moves like Heal Pulse + screens.
• 70/115/130 defenses, making it able to take a good amount of damage without multipliers.
• Prevents statuses with Misty Surge, which can stop toxic stalls and burn sets in their tracks.
• Good defensive typing, having only three weaknesses.
• It has 85 base speed, leaving it very vulnerable to Pokémon like Tapu Koko and Alolan Raichu.

[SET]
name: Swagger Support
move 1: Swagger
move 2: Heal Pulse
move 3: Protect
move 4: Dazzling Gleam / Moonblast / Muddy Water
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Misty Surge
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 4 Special Attack / 252 Special Defense

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Swagger lets you essentially give away a Swords Dance, and with Misty Terrain up the confusion is eliminated.
• Heal Pulse lets you reliably heal your ally.
• Dazzling Gleam is a fairly strong STAB move you can use to damage both opposing Pokémon.
• Moonblast is a very strong STAB move, having 95 power.
• Muddy Water is another strong STAB move that hits both of your opponents.

Set Details
========

• Sitrus Berry can help Tapu Fini bulk through a few super effective attacks.
• Misty Surge automatically places Misty Terrain on the field, making it impossible for any Pokémon on the ground to be statused in any way.
• It's Calm nature powers up Tapu Fini's Special Defense, its best stat, and lowers its Attacks, its worst stat.
• Evs are 252 HP / 4 Special Attack / 252 Special Defense, which gives it great bulk.
• Calm can be replaced with Bold if you would rather go for a more even set. If so, you should change Tapu Fini's EVs to 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA, or 252 HP / 128 Def / 4 SpA / 128 SpD for a more evenly spread set.

Usage Tips
========

• Try to stack Swagger on your ally as fast as possible before Misty Terrain disappears, but be sure to heal them if their HP goes below 50%.
• Once your Misty Terrain runs out, you have two options.
  • Switch out and switch back in to reset your Misty Terrain.
  • Work on damaging the opponents, while healing your ally when they get below 75% HP.
• If you think your opponent is going to try to taunt, either switch out, protect, or try to attack.

Team Options
========

• Dragon-types are not the best choice, as Misty Terrain lowers the power of Dragon-type attacks.
• Flying-types and Pokémon with the ability Levitate should not be used, as they won't be effected by Misty Terrain, and therefore can be statused.
• Bulky physical attackers like Snorlax should be used alongside Tapu Fini so they can survive a few attacks and receive Swagger.
• Follow Me can be a viable option to avoid Tapu Fini getting Taunted.
• The best Pokémon to lead with Tapu Fini is Camerupt, as its Ground/Fire typing covers all of Tapu Fini's weaknesses, it's fairly bulky, and has a high Attack stat.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Instead of a Sitrus Berry, you can give Tapu Fini a Wacan Berry to weaken a Electric-type attack, a Kebia Berry to weaken a Poison-type attack, or a Rindo Berry to weaken a Grass-type attack.
• If you would rather not attack, you can put Misty Terrain in the last move slot and move the 4 evs under Special Attack to Defense.
• You can try using screens in your set to help Tapu Fini last longer.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Electric-types**: They can easily take out Tapu Fini, and with Electric Terrain, Tapu Fini can be knocked out in a single attack thanks to the boost in Electric-type power. Your main consent should be Tapu Koko, a popular lead in the meta. It has Electric Surge, which can cancel your Misty Terrain, then OHKO Tapu Fini with its boosted Electric-type power and speed.

**Poison-types**: Poison-type walls like Alolan Muk are very popular in the meta, and you should be wary of Toxic + Toxic Spikes when Misty Terrain wares off.

**Grass-types**: Although Grass-types are not as popular in the meta compared to the prior two types, they're still a considerable threat. Bulky Pokémon like Tapu Bulu can use draining moves like Horn Leech to not only do considerable amount of damage, but heal themselves in the process, making them harder to take out.

**Opposing Terrains**: After a terrain is set, it can be ended early by setting a different terrain. If your opponent gets rid of your Misty Terrain early, you become vulnerable to statuses and setting Swagger becomes risky.

**Taunt**: Support Pokémon like Tapu Fini are prone to being taunted by Pokémon like Pyukumyuku or Weavile. Tapu Fini won't be able to use and status moves, essentially making it useless. Luckily, Misty Terrain gaurds you from Taunt, but keep the move in mind when it wares off.

 

[D-Striker]

Amcheck here, and though I'm not that experienced with tapu fini, I wanna voice my thoughts.

Overview:

While you did list some of the pros and cons of Tapu Fini, you failed to explain what role would it fill in your team. A support? A tank? What? This is important because the overview tells readers why they should use Tapu Fini, while also having a brief description of its pros and cons.

[SET]: Substitute Support

While IMO using Swagger in Misty Terrain to support your teammate is clever, the rest of the set needs work. Tapu Fini simply does not have the time to set up a sub whilst supporting it's partner, and without Protect, you are begging your opponent to double target your mons. Surf is also not a good attacking option because you will either hurt your partner that isn't Protecting or Wide Guarding, or you are forced to run Volcanion/Gastrodon, which greatly exacerbates your team's weakness to Tapu Koko/Electric-types and Tapu Bulu/Grass-types, respectively. Misty Terrain should not be slashed; I'd put it in OO or not mention it at all, but QC should decide on that. So here's the move set I'd suggest:

[SET]
name: Swagger Support
move 1: Swagger
move 2: Heal Pulse
move 3: Moonblast / Muddy Water / Dazzling Gleam
move 4: Protect

Then in set details, explain what each move does, plus some other notable moves (such as running Reflect or Light Screen over Heal Pulse or possibly even Surf as your single attacking option). I'd say something like "Muddy Water can also be run if you opt for a Water-type spread move that doesn't target your teammate." (I say MW over Surf becuase most viable water immunes do not benefit from Swagger's Attack boost, and the only viable Telepathy I can think of is Oranguru, who prefers Inner Focus and doesn't even use physical attacks to benefit from Swagger.)

Set Details:

Again, I'm not so experienced with Tapu Fini, so I'm not too sure what the optimal EV spread is, but after running a calc, with Max HP/Max SDef Tapu Fini with a Sitrus Berry has a 76.5% chance of surviving two Thunderbolts from Timid LO Tapu Koko outside of ETerrain so idk but it might have merit. Use Sitrus Berry because burst healing is better in Doubles and because of the above calc. Consolidate your choice of Natures and EVs into one bullet point for 252 HP/252 SDef/4 SAtk since it's rather straightforward.

Usage Tips:

Remove the part about sub and discuss what should players do when Tapu Fini is being offensively pressured (such as by super effective attacks). Also add how should Tapu Fini be played when you see an enemy Tapu in team preview.

Team Options:

Remove the part about Petal Dance; you can't pick your targets, so that makes it subpar. The other tapus are also more common than Tapu Fini, so I advise against using Thrash-like moves altogether. Buzzwole's awful SDef simply does not work in a special-oriented meta such as Doubles OU. I'm also doubtful of Camerupt since imo Drought Torkoal is better.
So for bulky physical attackers, one example I suggest is Mega Kangaskhan, but you should add to it and add more examples.
I also suggest Pokémon with Intimidate from the likes of Scrafty and Lando-T as partners for Tapu Fini to help patch up its lower Defense, and while that stat isn't bad, this set is investing much more into Special Defense, so it helps. Scrafty also has Fake Out to potentially flinch a target so that it and Fini only have one possible move to fear while the latter boosts the former.
Speed control (Icy Wind, Tailwind, Thunder Wave) is also helpful to Tapu Fini since it has a middling Speed stat. I theorize that Jirachi would make a great partner becuase it can use either Icy Wind or TWave, redirects dangerous attacks from Tapu Fini with Follow Me, and benefits from Swagger boosting its Iron Head.
While they don't benefit from Misty Terrain, I think that Flying/Levitating Dragons like Latios and (Mega) Salamence have defensive synergy with Tapu Fini and can set up Tailwind, so I think that deserves a mention.
Edit: Forgot to add Steel-Types like Heatran; they take on Poison- and Grass-Type moves for Tapu Fini, and the Tapu can hit Fire- and Ground-Types with Muddy Water.
Lastly I suggest adding Poison-types as partners, especially Muk-Alola. "MukaFini" is insane. Muk-A is essentially a Tapu Killer, which is great for Support Fini. It also loves a free +2 Attack boost, and the best part is if Tapu Fini faints with Muk-A next to it, Power of Alchemy grabs Misty Terrain, allowing Muk-A to set it up one last time if it wasn't active. Other Poison types also help Tapu Fini by dispatching other Fairies and Grass-types.

Other Options:

Calm vs. Bold is not something you put in OO, especially without an EV spread, so remove that and add it to set details WITH an EV spread and explain why is that an option.
Remove that third bullet point. It seems you have no experience with Taunt, because your Swagger Support set is MAJOR Taunt bait, especially if you remove its only attacking option.
Speaking of Taunt, Tapu Fini has access to it, and that could warrant a mention here. Nature's Madness, Substitute + Leftovers, Ice Beam, and single-target Water-Type attacks like Hydro Pump and Scald might also go here.

Checks and Counters:

Merge **Electric-Types** and **Tapu Koko** since the way you worded it looks like you are talking about the same thing (btw manually setting terrain is a waste of a moveslot, if you have not taken my hints).
For Poison-Types, Toxapex is not really a thing, so I would mention the more relevant (Mega) Gengar, Muk-Alola, and Hoopa-Unbound's Gunk Shot.
For Grass-Types, you need to add an example of a Grass-Type Pokémon/move. And remove that Petal Dance part.
You seriously need to add Taunt in here. Taunt prevents Tapu Fini from using Status moves, which is horrible for a support Mon FYI.

Finally, you also mentioned Dual Screens in your Overview, but didn't make a set out of it. Make it a set under the Swagger Support set. +33% in both defenses for 8 turns with Light Clay and Misty Terrain blocking status is pretty bomb if you ask me, if you can set it up. Or at least note it under OO.

How did I do for my first amcheck and first post ever? XD

 

[BARABOY]

Amcheck here, and though I'm not that experienced with tapu fini, I wanna voice my thoughts.

Overview:

While you did list some of the pros and cons of Tapu Fini, you failed to explain what role would it fill in your team. A support? A tank? What? This is important because the overview tells readers why they should use Tapu Fini, while also having a brief description of its pros and cons.

[SET]: Substitute Support

While IMO using Swagger in Misty Terrain to support your teammate is clever, the rest of the set needs work. Tapu Fini simply does not have the time to set up a sub whilst supporting it's partner, and without Protect, you are begging your opponent to double target your mons. Surf is also not a good attacking option because you will either hurt your partner that isn't Protecting or Wide Guarding, or you are forced to run Volcanion/Gastrodon, which greatly exacerbates your team's weakness to Tapu Koko/Electric-types and Tapu Bulu/Grass-types, respectively. Misty Terrain should not be slashed; I'd put it in OO or not mention it at all, but QC should decide on that. So here's the move set I'd suggest:

[SET]
name: Swagger Support
move 1: Swagger
move 2: Heal Pulse
move 3: Moonblast / Muddy Water / Dazzling Gleam
move 4: Protect

Then in set details, explain what each move does, plus some other notable moves (such as running Reflect or Light Screen over Heal Pulse or possibly even Surf as your single attacking option). I'd say something like "Muddy Water can also be run if you opt for a Water-type spread move that doesn't target your teammate." (I say MW over Surf becuase most viable water immunes do not benefit from Swagger's Attack boost, and the only viable Telepathy I can think of is Oranguru, who prefers Inner Focus and doesn't even use physical attacks to benefit from Swagger.)

Set Details:

Again, I'm not so experienced with Tapu Fini, so I'm not too sure what the optimal EV spread is, but after running a calc, with Max HP/Max SDef Tapu Fini with a Sitrus Berry has a 76.5% chance of surviving two Thunderbolts from Timid LO Tapu Koko outside of ETerrain so idk but it might have merit. Use Sitrus Berry because burst healing is better in Doubles and because of the above calc. Consolidate your choice of Natures and EVs into one bullet point for 252 HP/252 SDef/4 SAtk since it's rather straightforward.

Usage Tips:

Remove the part about sub and discuss what should players do when Tapu Fini is being offensively pressured (such as by super effective attacks). Also add how should Tapu Fini be played when you see an enemy Tapu in team preview.

Team Options:

Remove the part about Petal Dance; you can't pick your targets, so that makes it subpar. The other tapus are also more common than Tapu Fini, so I advise against using Thrash-like moves altogether. Buzzwole's awful SDef simply does not work in a special-oriented meta such as Doubles OU. I'm also doubtful of Camerupt since imo Drought Torkoal is better.
So for bulky physical attackers, one example I suggest is Mega Kangaskhan, but you should add to it and add more examples.
I also suggest Pokémon with Intimidate from the likes of Scrafty and Lando-T as partners for Tapu Fini to help patch up its lower Defense, and while that stat isn't bad, this set is investing much more into Special Defense, so it helps. Scrafty also has Fake Out to potentially flinch a target so that it and Fini only have one possible move to fear while the latter boosts the former.
Speed control (Icy Wind, Tailwind, Thunder Wave) is also helpful to Tapu Fini since it has a middling Speed stat. I theorize that Jirachi would make a great partner becuase it can use either Icy Wind or TWave, redirects dangerous attacks from Tapu Fini with Follow Me, and benefits from Swagger boosting its Iron Head.
While they don't benefit from Misty Terrain, I think that Flying/Levitating Dragons like Latios and (Mega) Salamence have defensive synergy with Tapu Fini and can set up Tailwind, so I think that deserves a mention.
Edit: Forgot to add Steel-Types like Heatran; they take on Poison- and Grass-Type moves for Tapu Fini, and the Tapu can hit Fire- and Ground-Types with Muddy Water.
Lastly I suggest adding Poison-types as partners, especially Muk-Alola. "MukaFini" is insane. Muk-A is essentially a Tapu Killer, which is great for Support Fini. It also loves a free +2 Attack boost, and the best part is if Tapu Fini faints with Muk-A next to it, Power of Alchemy grabs Misty Terrain, allowing Muk-A to set it up one last time if it wasn't active. Other Poison types also help Tapu Fini by dispatching other Fairies and Grass-types.

Other Options:

Calm vs. Bold is not something you put in OO, especially without an EV spread, so remove that and add it to set details WITH an EV spread and explain why is that an option.
Remove that third bullet point. It seems you have no experience with Taunt, because your Swagger Support set is MAJOR Taunt bait, especially if you remove its only attacking option.
Speaking of Taunt, Tapu Fini has access to it, and that could warrant a mention here. Nature's Madness, Substitute + Leftovers, Ice Beam, and single-target Water-Type attacks like Hydro Pump and Scald might also go here.

Checks and Counters:

Merge **Electric-Types** and **Tapu Koko** since the way you worded it looks like you are talking about the same thing (btw manually setting terrain is a waste of a moveslot, if you have not taken my hints).
For Poison-Types, Toxapex is not really a thing, so I would mention the more relevant (Mega) Gengar, Muk-Alola, and Hoopa-Unbound's Gunk Shot.
For Grass-Types, you need to add an example of a Grass-Type Pokémon/move. And remove that Petal Dance part.
You seriously need to add Taunt in here. Taunt prevents Tapu Fini from using Status moves, which is horrible for a support Mon FYI.

Finally, you also mentioned Dual Screens in your Overview, but didn't make a set out of it. Make it a set under the Swagger Support set. +33% in both defenses for 8 turns with Light Clay and Misty Terrain blocking status is pretty bomb if you ask me, if you can set it up. Or at least note it under OO.

How did I do for my first amcheck and first post ever? XD

Thanks for the imput! I'll be sure to add some of this stuff soon. Also, I can't believe this is your first amcheck!

 

[talkingtree]

This analysis is not up to par for various reasons, and Tapu Fini as a Pokemon hasn't really been shown to be viable thus far. I'm gonna lock this and take it off the reservation list.