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198 votes
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I breed Pokemon in the game and am pretty good at IVs and EVs and such. I have thought of a few good tactics, such as

  • Safe Guard and Outrage/Petal Dance/Thrash (avoids confusion ailment)
  • Mimic and Imprison (permanent Disables last move)
  • Swagger/Flatter and Psych Up/Haze (either gives you upped stats or resets theirs)
  • Defense Curl followed by Roll Out (makes roll out stronger)
  • Rain Dance and Thunder (Thunder never misses)
  • Belly Drum and Rest (works best with a chesto berry. Maximizes attack)
  • Sunny Day and Solar Beam (solar beam no longer needs to charge)
  • Endure and Flail/Reversal (makes the attack moves really strong compared to normal)

What are some of the best move combos that you have found so far? :D
Explain your choices, and why they make good combos.

Please read all the answers before posting, to avoid duplicate answers. Yes, all 200+ of them.

And no full on movesets either, there are separate questions for that :-)

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210 Answers

139 votes

This one's not really convienent, but it's hilarious to use in a battle against a friend who is not using a ghost type pokemon. You get a pokemon like Starly that is around level 1 (it's funniest at level one, but other low levels work too) and teach it Endevor and Quick Attack. Have it hold a focus sash. When your friend's high level pokemon (and thus faster than you)attacks, you hang on with the focus sash. You use endevor, reducing their HP to 1. Then you use quick attack. Again, not practical for your average battle, but funny to use against a friend.

Other more serious combos include Sleep Powder (or another sleep inducing move like hypnosis) and dream eater or Sleep Powder and Focus Punch.

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Of course...

Also a Lv.1 Smeargle with a focus sash is great with
- Leech Seed
- Endeavor
- Bullet Punch (hits ghost pokemon)
- Spore

in a double battle with a carbink that skill swaps sturdy onto smeargle.

Maybe have will-o-wisp instead of spore as using endeavor won't necessarily make them be on 1 HP as leech seed gets all your HP back.
F.E.A.R. strategy...I like it :3
I used this strategy and won an UBER match! I also recommend to use Starly because of Scrappy.
I would say having spikes/whirlwind or roar or for the new gen have stealth rock and keep force switching out opponents pokemon to come in and take damage. If you have a decent speed pokemon doing this it could be just annoying for you opponent.

Also substitute  and baton pass and have each pokemon on your team able to buff different stats.  And your last pokemon as a mixed sweeper with max buffs is just unfair. And substitute just becomes a nuisance especially if you stacked in some double teams
Rattata can learn Pursuit
77 votes

I think you've covered all the best ones. Endure+Reversal is a deadly combination if your pokemon is faster than the opponent.

One cool one is Mean Look and Perish Song. You stop your opponent fleeing but guarantee they will faint. You can even stop your Pokemon fainting if you switch out right before the third turn.

Articuno can learn Mind Reader (guaranteed hit next move) and Sheer Cold (OHKO). I think Poliwrath could also learn a similar combination in generation 2. And of course, Smeargle can learn any move, so Mind Reader or Lock-On then a OHKO move would work.

If you play double battles, have one Flying-type pokemon, or one with the Levitate ability (e.g. Bronzong). Your second pokemon can then use Earthquake to its heart's content - it hits both opposing pokemon but misses your team-mate.

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good combos for me often include lock-on. the only reason i keep my regirock and registeel is because of my lock-on and zap cannon combo (garunteed paralys(althogh thunder wave works well too)) another good combo i find is zoraork with foul play (only works with opponent using attack raising moves,preferably swords dance) it works by zoroarks illusion making it look like a pokemon with high defense, so your friend goes to use swords dance to counter. then just use a steel type (or rock or earth) move to make it seem more believable. because of zoraoks large speed stat when it gets to full attack raised, just use foul play and kabam. used this against iris's haxorus in b/w2 and ohko (though haxorus using dragon dance)
Mean look and any trapping move would work. Plus, in non-OU, you can use shadow tag and perish song, which works in a similar way.
I know this is very old but I saw the same strategy (levitate + flying type) in Tate & Liza's team in Emerald. Claydol uses Earthquake, and Xatu, Solrock and Lunatone avoid it.
Telepathy also prevents allies from hitting you.
This could also work with discharge + volt absorb, or surf + water absorb. The earthquake thing also works with earth eater orthworm. This comment was made a monthe after the actual release of pokemon scarlet/violet.
46 votes

Scyther can actually do a pretty big amount of damage with fury cutter.

Item: Metronome/wide lens/evolite (whichever you find best)

In case you don't know, Fury cutter starts off with a measly base 20 power, but it doubles after each successful use, going from 40, to 80, and peaks at 160. Scyther gets STAB from it since he's a bug type, as well as a power up from technician. On top of that, you can use the metronome, which powers up moves used repeatedly.

base power X STAB X technician X Metronome level

Turn 1: 20 * 1.5 * 1.5 * 1.1 = 50 base power
Turn 2: 40 * 1.5 * 1.5 * 1.2 = 108 base power
Turn 3: 80 * 1.5 * 1.3 = 156 base power
Turn 4: 160 * 1.5 * 1.4 = 336 base power

Not the greatest strategy, nor the most dependable, but it's still pretty nice.

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You do realize this was made before X & Y ~.~
Fury Cutter was 20 back then
I've used a metronome echoed voice Pyroar, which is essentially the same.
Why not Choice Band?
why don't you do it on a scizor
If you also use instruct, scyther can use fury cutter again. That could be a combo
41 votes

Use Rotom-W and Scizor. Give Rotom volt switch and scizor U-turn. Have them use the moves together to mess with the foe and switch between each other. Scizor resists everything Rotom is weak to, and Rotom resists everything Scizor is weak to. Use it in the rain for extra fun coverage. It takes good prediction to use this, but you'll be left virtually unscathed if you pull it off right.

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nice...
Best answer!! :D
I should use this, I rely only on predicting my foe, and my pokemon team in really basic, but I destroy everyone in my way.
so by rotom, you're saying heat rotom and/or wash rotom, right?
39 votes

Have a Zangoose with The ability Toxic Boost (physical attacks get stronger when poisoned) combined with facade.

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Then my suggestion is to change it to "Use a Normal type with the ability Guts or Toxic Boost, then give it Facade. The best choice for this would be Zangoose." Although I like Ursaring best  (just saying). And even while saying all this, I had still voted you up, so don't think I'm bashing you.
You should probably give it a toxic orb as well (to get the system going)
You could also have a breloom with poison heal, breloom can learn facade, and it'll heal instead of hurt with poison heal.
Breloom can be really annoying to fight against with Poison Heal, Leech Seed, Drain Punch and Facade holding a Toxic Orb. I'll know it; I've used it.
Although I don't diagree, I think flame orb guts would be better since toxic orb (the one that gives you poisoning) and toxic both badly poison so it deals more residual damage.
36 votes

Swagger and punishment is awesome. It not only confuses your opponet, but it raises his attack power. That will make swagger hurt him more and it will raise the power of punishment.

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Best used on a Pokemon with all Special moves, of course. As long as their Attack stat is not tiny like Chansey.
Or foul play
I use this one with my Weavile, made it DEADLY
Swagger is just a very uncompetitive move, and it's kind of dirty. No wonder it was banned.
Maybe swords dance + power trip will also be good.
34 votes

For single battles:

Have Cofagrigus take a physical hit. This will make your foe's ability Mummy. Send in either Regigigas or Slaking. Then, hit the foe with a physical attack. Regigigas/Slaking will then gain the ability Mummy. This is the most reliable way to remove Truant and Slow Start. Now you have two Pokemon with incredibly high stats with no hindering ability (actually, since they now have Mummy as an ability, they have a great ability now.)

Now there are two points about this strategy that stop it from making it worth making Slaking and Regigigas OU.

  1. When you switch in, you'll take a hit. Thankfully Slaking and Regigigas are incredibly bulky. And they won't be switching in on a Fighting type attack, seeing as you are switching out from Cofagrigus. Slaking also has Slack Off to provide healing.

  2. The turn after you switch in Slaking or Regigigas, the foe is going to switch. Regigigas has no way to deal with this unfortunately. However, Slaking can easily deal with this. Slaking has access to the move Pursuit, which means that you'll still be getting the ability Mummy even when the foe switches out, in addition to damaging the foe. Even if they don't switch out, you'll get the ability Mummy.

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or if you aren't gonna use your cofagrigus in battle then just hit your own
or use entrainment to change his ability then losing it (best ability I found to change was Iron fist)
32 votes

Venom Shock + Toxic Spikes STAB is one of my favorite. when delivered by a poison type, it has 195 base power.

Justified+ beat up-boosts attack several stages.

Fury Swipes (or any multi hit move) +breakable armor-same as Justified, but different ability.

Those are a few I thought up.

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Wow, your ideas are great!
this gives me a reason to use cobalion
Justified and beat up should max Attack.
Maybe it would be good if your beat up pokemon was level 1 with focus sash.
Especially with endeavor. Make it a F.E.A.R. who also maxes your allies Attack.
°U°:) other happy emoticons.;):];]:} etc
32 votes

In a double battle, have a Magnezone and a pokemon with the ability levitate, then have Magnezone use Role Play on that pokemon. He'll get the ability and lose his 4x ground weakness.

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Additionally, he could use magnet rise.
Magnet rise only lasts 5 turns though. This would be permanent.
30 votes

I love Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Nightmare and Protect. You can teach it to a Gengar.

It is even better if you do it with a Darkrai and teach it Dark Void instead of Hypnosis. With its Bad Dreams ability you are barely ever going to lose!

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Why do you need protect?
protect can seem silly, although it can be used for stalling, i have no idea why though
What about against insomniacs & dark types?
Give that gengar an attack move to go against insomniacs & dark types.
LoL!, Once again, Great Combo :D
29 votes

In a double battle, have a fast pokemon use Belly drum while the other uses psych up to take it. As long as you prepare for attacking foes properly, it can do tons of damage.

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Have Mega-Medicham use psych-up; it is great competitively.
26 votes

Choice scarf+trick+trick room
First turn:
Use trick (generally you are speedier holding choice scarf)

Second turn:
The oppenent is speedier so use trick room. With this strategy, you play first and the oppenent can use only one move. Also generally the first move the oppenent use is stealth rock, so he will fail consecutively.

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That is awsome I am so teaching that to my Reuniclus
Thanks
+prankster= devastation
Also try trapping the enemy with stuff like shadow Tag or whatever.
I just put this on a trick room set on victini. It works really well!
26 votes

Use simple beam on Archeops to do away with defeatist. It also turns his hone claws into a swords dance with +2 accuracy, great for focus blast. (though it's special, it's still nice on his monstrous stats) If you feel really risky, you could even send him defense boosts or aqua ring to help him even more. (a pokemon like Vaporeon could use this well.) Defense is a bit more important to him than special defense since most of the priority moves that hit him are physical. He won't have much trouble outspeeding things. You now have a hard hitting, fast, physically bulky sweeper.

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My common sense tells me you cant make him get a +4 def bonus from Acid Armor.

Acid Armor batton passing = ok
But then you batton pass it to an Archeops that still has Defeatist. You need another pokémon to use simple beam. So only a +2 def boost
It works like this.

First pokemon out: simple beam user and Vaporeon.

Turn 1: Vaporeon uses acid armor and simple beamer uses either an attacking or stalling move.

Turn 2: Vaporeon uses baton pass while other pokemon uses simple beam. (the simple beamer would be slower to ensure Archeops gets hit. Archeops receives the defense boost as well as simple, getting rid of his ability in the process.

Turn 3: Archeops uses hone claws (which gives +2 attack and +2 accuracy) or just sweeps from the start. The added defense lets him withstand priority moves he's screwed over by like aqua jet. Barring the occasional vacuum wave, there's not too much that can break him. His speed helps him outspeed most major threats, while his partner can use moves like heal bell, heal pulse, and helping hand to keep Archeops nice and healthy.
Perhaps a Audino as a partner?
That's an idea. I don't really care for the gen V pokemon, but I admit that's a good partner.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. With Simple already existing stat changes stay the same as they were before, no?
I do see that a change was made in Gen V. He would get double boosts from hone claws, but not from the defense. Still, doubled defense is nice on him.
I love this. It works really nicely with Curse Ferrothorn, as Audino can also use Thunder Wave to power up gyro ball.
Gyro ball deals more damage the SLOWER you are, not faster. I don't rly know if paralysis counts as a slower opponent for gyro ball though. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
25 votes

In a triple battle, give a fast pokemon a sweeping move with little to no immunities. Have your sweeping pokemon in the middle and let him attack. Have your other two pokemon use helping hand together, giving you two boosts on top of Things like STAB, items, etc. The other pokemon can also carry priority moves to deal with other priority abusers, moves like heal bell to deal with status, especially from prankster, heal pulse to restore team health, moves to deal with abilities like flash fire, and dual screens to better protect your sweeping pokemon. This works wonders with multitarget moves like eruption. Even if he pokemon has a double resistance to the move you're using, they'll take a pretty hard hit. I personally like thus strategy with typhlosion and eruption to hit multiple targets. In one turn, you could rip apart your opponent's team. Pokemon. Like archeops, gengar, dragonite, and contrary serperior can use this trick very well. Just know that multi-target moves are a nice way to add on the pain to the opponent.

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Do helping hands stack, though?
23 votes

Tropius @ Lum Berry
Ability: Harvest (DW) (May renew used up berry)

  • Rest
  • Air Slash
  • Toxic
  • WHATEVER YOU WANT

The idea here is that Tropius does whatever, than rest as much as you want, while Lum Berry cures the SLEEP status. Harvest may restore that berry for you, allowing another rest next turn!
This is a very annoying combo and works great for stalling! ~

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One ice beam and tropius has nothing to stall !!
If you know an Ice-Beamer is coming your way... WOULD YOU STAY IN?!
Take out Air Slash and Toxic, Put in Dragon Dance, 252 Ev's in both defenses, Add two physical Attacking moves, and you've got a sweeper.
I'd put sunny day in that last slot to guarentee harvest
or, an ice weakening berry, sunny day, synthesis, solar beam and growth (with harvest) you get ice damage cut every turn (goodbye weakness) and growth has double effect, solar beam is one turn and synthesis heals double. Thats just what I'd do though.
Yeah I was thinking, "What a great strategy to use in S/M!"

Then I thought about Ice Beam.
22 votes

toxic orb/flame orb+ psycho shift. This gives your opponent instant status. You can finish things up with a bit of facade to add to the fire.

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maybe add a move such as roar to this if a pokemon can learn it.
Works great on Sigilyph because of Magic Guard.
You can also use it on something with sychornize
Synchronize shouldn't work with flame/toxic orb
21 votes

In a double battle, have evolite Rhydon with the ability Lightningrod. Have your partner use the move soak on him, turning him into a water type. This, combined with his ability, leaves him with only one weakness, which could be covered with ice punch. He loses earthquake STAB, but if you set up curse with him, it won't make much of a difference thanks to his power. It does open you up to STAB aqua tail though. Imagine soaking shedinja. If his partner has lighteningrod, he would only have one weakness.

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It's just too bad you can't make use of that Special Attack boost. Still a nice strategy.
In gen 9 you can tera water
21 votes

In a double battle, use simple beam on a pokemon with shell smash.

It's strongly advised that the shell smashing pokemon holds a White herb.

You could also go defensive and use Cotton guard for full defense instantly,

Other moves: quiver guard, cosmic power, etc.

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I might make a troll stall team just because of this. Normally, I hate trolls, but this is the best way to make people mad since FEAR Aron being accepted as a legitimate technique.
I'm planning on using it in the Doubles Tournament XD
shell smash +  white herb
Youll get rid of hte crappy defense fall and baton pass it away!
19 votes

I found that having a poke'mon, preferably Snorlax that knows Rest, Sleep Talk, Body Slam and Counter is a great combo. You take a bunch of damage the first time you use Counter, then use Rest. After that, use Sleep Talk. It gives you a 2 out of 3 shot to do an attack move.

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That sounds like my snorlax! except mine knows solar beam instead of counter, not sure how that happened, but I got it in a trade, so who knows?
How about Substitute, Rest, Snore, Focus Punch? Works well except for ghost types.
19 votes

Swagger/flatter+ psych up

Attack your foe with the confusion and stat boost while copying it the next turn.

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Along with this is Double Battles, Swagger or Flatter on a Pokemon with Own Tempo.
DT, From this, I'm guessing we can put down ones that are already on the question?