What is a good moveset for Blacephalon?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Blacephalon, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Blacephalon Pokedex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Knallkopf (Blacephalon) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 168 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Mind Blown
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock

Will outspeed most legal Pokemon due to the Choice Scarf. Preferably for doubles, since Mind Blown gets OP really fast, especially with Beast Boost.

Additionally use Sunny Day or Helping Hand on your dedicated support Pokemon.

Comments

Why such a awkward Ev spread?

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What's awkward in it? I'm pretty sure the Spe EVs + Choice Scarf are meant to outspeed most mons in the tier, Max SpA with Modest is for power, and the rest are just for some bulk, which isn't that bad.

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With 84 EVs, it will get speed up to 271. With Choice Scarf, it gets up to 406,5. That way it can outspeed most legal Pokémon, which get a max speed of 405.

With this setup, only 6 legal Pokémon (without speed boosts) outspeed it.

Answer 2

Blacephalon @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 120 Def / 16 SpA / 124 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock / Light Screen
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Flamethrower for STAB and nice damage. Shadow Ball hits hard with STAB. Use Psyshock to kill them who has more SpD than Def. Light Screen for support. And HP Grass for coverage of its 3 weaknesses.

Comments

This set is pretty cool, especially for the triple coverage with hp grass. However, Blacephalon has pretty stupid defenses so running a bulky set would be pointless in my opinion. Plus, many offensive pokemon like naganadel can outspeed it and OHKO with draco meteor.

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Thanks. I was a noob when I made this set, every of my set's EVs was bulky.

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I guess you were into stalling opponents until they forfeit! If you want to do that, try chansey with an eviolite. Watch out for physical attackers:)

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I still have a question: If you were trying to make a bulky Blacephalon, why give it mostly attacking moves? Like, say, Reflect?

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why no one use its signature move?

Answer 3

Ah, my Life Orb Mind Blown Blacephalon. So fun to use. Hopefully this set will blow your mind!

Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Mind Blown
- Flamethrower
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball

The idea of this set is to blow up stuff. I mean, that might sound stupid, but let me tell you: It is NOT fun to take a Mind Blown from a Beast Boosted Blacephalon. Anyways, Flamethrower is for reliable fire STAB, Psyshock is for special walls like Primal Kyogre, Blissey, and Ho-Oh. Shadow Ball is for reliable Ghost type STAB.

The EVs on this set are to make Blacephalon as hit as fast and hard as possible. A Life Orb is run over Choice Specs because you do NOT want to get choice-locked into Mind Blown. Beast Boost is good because it makes Blacephalon even more deadly after a KO. Finally, a Timid Nature is used for many reasons. First of all, Blacephalon has saved my butt countless times because of that extra speed. Second of all, with Mind Blown, you really don't need any more power.

Two words. Mind. Blown.

Comments

I really liked this set, i used it and pulled some good sweeps. Some people underate this set because it has mind blow and another fire STAB (flamethrower in this case) but flamethrower is used nomarly and mind blow to defeat bulkier pokémons and psychock is excellent against special walls. Long story short, it's an excellent moveset, congrats!

Answer 4

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Trick

Fire Blast for nice damage and STAB. Shadow Ball for STAB. Psychic for coverage. Trick Choice Scarf for an encore.

Comments

I would run fire blast/flamethrower over mind blown. If you want to use mind blown, use both and  run it over psychic, as fire ghost is pretty good coverage on its own.

Answer 5

Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Bature
- Mind Blown / Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick

Simple enough. Only choice to be made with this is do you choose the raw power & HP loss with Mind Blown or just go with the standard Fire Blast? Other than that, this thing doesn't have to many options.

Comments

Nice set, but you could also consider flamethrower as a STAB option?

Answer 6

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Modest Nature
- Mind Blown / Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Trick

Mind blown is good for heavy damage with STAB at the cost of HP while Flamethrower does normal damage without HP loss. Shadow Ball is just STAB. Hidden Power [Grass] is for good coverage against 3 of its weaknesses. Trick is to lock your opponent into one move.

Answer 7

Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Mind Blown / Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick

Mind Blown / Heat Wave (Both STAB, Good Power)
Shadow Ball (STAB, Good Power)

Comments

This looks like a good move-set with the ability to force your opponents with into one move. I think this is good and I am going to use it, but I am going to change the item to flame orb to burn the opponent as well as lower their attack, as Blacephlon has pretty low defense in the first place ;D

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Hmm, probably Flamethrower or Fire Blast over Heat Wave

Answer 8

All out special attacker, anyone?

Blacephalon @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Dark Pulse

Anything the last three moves won't hit, Flamethrower kills.

Comments

But this blacephalon may outspeed by choice greninja .

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Doesen’t Greninja already outspeed Blacephalon without a Choice Scarf? If you meant Choice Specs, then never mind.

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Why both Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse? They cover the same things and It gets STAB from Shadow Ball.

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@Noot yes shadow ball and dark pulse are garbage together I would rather run scarf + timid. It already has a 150+ special attack I don't understand purpose of leftovers on fast sweepers if you don't want scarf you can run life orb

Answer 9

Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Mind Blown
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Flamethrower is for Mind Blown incase if it runs out of PP

Comments

It's not really a good idea to use two moves of the same type unless it's something like First Impression. Mind Blown might seem appealing because of its high power, but it's not as useful as just Flamethrower which has a little more PP. Instead of Mind Blown, try using a Choice Item and Trick instead to give the Choice Item to the opponent when they are not expecting it. Have a nice day :)

Answer 10

Blacephalon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Flame Charge
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower / Mind Blown

Start with Flame Charge to get up your Speed. Rest of the moves are coverage + STAB.
Mind Blown is usable as at 1 HP it doesn't have much life in it anyways.
This set allows it to hit hard while outspeeding in exchange for it's lifespan.
But beware of Bonemerang from Alolan Marowak.

Answer 11

Blacephalon @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hypnosis
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Mind Blown / Flamethrower

Pretty simple set. Get a hypnosis off then 1 or 2 calm minds and then a shadow ball, flamethrower or mind blown does the job.

Comments

Choice Scarf means you can only use the first move you pick until you switch out, so setting up with Calm Mind is useless. Hypnosis isn't great either.

Answer 12

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Mind Blown

Pretty simple, but super fun to use. 4 HP EVs are just overflowed. Try not to Dynamax unless you need to use a specific type move for whatever reason.

Comments

Btw, this is anti-zacian for swsh ranked battles

Answer 13

Blacephalon @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 128 HP / 128 Spe / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Mind Blown
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

you use mind blown then use leftovers/rest to regain your hp, and spam psychic while you rest.

Comments

What's the point of putting 128 EVs in HP? Are there any specific benchmarks you're aiming for? If not, I think you would be better off putting all those HP EVs into Speed instead. Also consider running a Timid nature instead of Modest so that you can out speed Pokémon with base 100 Speed that are also running 252 Speed EVs + Speed bosting nature. I also reccomend replacing Psychic with a move that Blacephalon has STAB on.

Answer 14

(Gen 9) National Dex UU Calm Mind Grassium Z

Blacephalon @ Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Solar Beam
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball

A Calm Mind Grassium Z set uses in National Dex UU. This set should be used on Ting-Lu Overload HO teams, with Calm Mind Grassium Z and Booster Energy Speed Iron Moth being the main core on the team. The idea of those teams is that you use Blacephalon to weaken Ting-Lu so Iron Moth can sweep late game.

Calm Mind lets Blacephalon boost its Special Attack so it can be a scary threat should the opponent not have anything to stop it. Solarbeam is never used on Blacephalon, as it would have no reason to use it. However, this set uses Solar Beam with Grassium Z to deal with Blacephalon and Iron Moth's biggest roadblock, Ting-Lu. You'll want to have at least 1 Special Attack boost, either from knocking out a Pokemon or using Calm Mind on the predicted Ting-Lu switch in since most Pokemon don't want to switch into Blacephalon's attacks. With a +1 Special Attack, Blacephalon can use Bloom Doom with Solar Beam as the base move against Ting-Lu to deal quite a bit of damage to it:

+1 252 SpA Blacephalon Bloom Doom (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 432-510 (84 - 99.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Dealing that much damage is really nice, as it opens up an Iron Moth sweep late game. If you somehow have a +2 Special Attack boost, Z Solar Beam will nuke Ting-Lu:

+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Bloom Doom (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 576-678 (112 - 131.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

You can also have hazard support to help out with weakening Ting-Lu. Stealth Rock up gives Blacephalon a 37.5% chance to OHKO Ting-Lu with a +1 Z-Solar Beam. If you have 1 Spike up, a +1 Z-Solar Beam has a 75% chance to OHKO Ting-Lu. You can use leads such as Excadrill, Mew, or Sandy Shocks for a hazard lead for Ting-Lu Overload HO teams.

The other attacks are used for consistent STABs, with most Pokemon not wanting to switch into either of them. Yes, Pokemon like Chansey, Blissey, and Tyranitar exist, but those Pokemon aren't that common in NatDex UU, and you have a team of 6 for a reason.

Soo, yeah, a Blacephalon set that lures in and deals out quite a bit of damage to Ting-Lu for Ting-Lu Overload HO teams. Enjoy!

(Also, note that Tera is banned in NatDex UU, so you can't use Tera there)