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4 votes
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If you have a good competitive moveset for Flapple, 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 explanation, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Flapple Pokedex and learnset for reference.

Flapple sprite

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7 Answers

6 votes

Gen 8 ZU

Flapple
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Grav Apple
- Acrobatics
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn

Itemless Flapple that is to be used during the effects of Gravity. Why would you want to use this in Gravity, you might ask? There are two benefits. 1. Grav Apple has 1.5x power during Gravity, becoming a 120 BP move. Adding STAB, Grav Apple has a 180 BP during Gravity. 2. It increases accuracy of your attacks. This means that during Gravity, we can negate the accuracy drop from Hustle. Acrobatics has double power since Flapple isn't holding an item. Sucker Punch is for priority revenge killing. U-Turn is to pivot and you can use it once the effects of Gravity are up. You can pair this with Clefairy, who can set up Gravity and use Teleport to bring Flapple in saftley.

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Ooh, nice set! It would be a good idea if you suggest a Gravity partner/user for it in ZU!
" You can pair this with Clefairy, who can set up Gravity and use Teleport to bring Flapple in saftley. "
Oopsie, didn't saw. Sorry!
2 votes

Ability: Hustle
Adamant Nature.
24 HP, 252 Atk, 232 Speed
Item: Life Orb

1. Dragon Dance
2. Grav Apple
3. Outrage
4. Sucker Punch

Flapple's already good Attack stat is catapulted by its ability to use both Hustle and a LIfe Orb; With Hustle, that 110 Base Attack stat becomes the effective equivalent to a much more staggering 190 Base Attack (albeit with a chance to miss,) and with a Life Orb on top of that, it gains an even more effective attack than a Mega Mawile! In short, Flapple acts as an offensive powerhouse, utterly wrecking anything that it can get a solid move on even if doesn't set up. However, it's held back by a poor base speed stat in 70, which makes it really hard to outspeed things that aren't trying to be bulky, and even more so is that its poor defensive stats and six weaknesses compromise its ability to stay on the battlefield. Flapple has to be played with carefully in order for it to get results. And what also really doesn't help Flapple is that its Grass/Dragon STAB cannot hit Steel-types effectively, and that it doesn't learn any moves that can hit them for Supereffective damage; in fact the only move that it learns that is even neutral to Steel is the listed move Sucker Punch. Flapple also doesn't really have good selection of STAB moves; Grav Apple and Dragon Claw are weak at only 80 BP, and while Outrage is strong it locks you in for 2-3 turns. This is also all further exasperated by the fact that Hustle makes all your moves have only 80% accuracy.

Watch for chances Flapple has to come in and set up a Dragon Dance. Choice-locked Electric or Water moves, Pokemon too defensive to deal with it in one turn, or slower Pokemon that simply might want to switch out of an incoming Grass-move are all examples of this, on top of any strategies your team might already have. Once that happens, it's all but guaranteed that something is going to die. In Smogon UU and below, there aren't many bulky Steel-Types that can get in Flapple's way, and when Dynamaxing is available, Flapple utterly bulldozes through most of those, too. In fact, Dynamax fixes many of Flapple's problems: Max moves never miss, so Hustle's accuracy doesn't matter, its moves get crazy-high base power (130-140 BP) without drawbacks, and its HP doubles, so it becomes twice as Bulky. On top of that Max Darkness, while still not supereffective against Steel, has enough power behind it to match that of a STAB Grav Apple in base form, which is another way of saying that it can hit Steel-Types very hard. Flapple will basically just roll over anything that tries to get in its way with all that power it has at its disposal. Flapple can beat either Ferrothorn and Corvinight quite soundly if they switch into a Dragon Dance; The damage it takes becomes halved by Dynamax, and then it becomes reduced again by its Max Wyrmwind, since it lowers their Attack stats, and that neuters possible retaliation with moves like Gyro Ball and Brave Bird. On top of that while Flapple is slow--This moveset only outruns Pokemon with 110 Base Speed after a Dragon Dance, it more than makes up for it by having priority Sucker Punch. Most Pokemon faster than 110 Speed are fragile, and since you have +1 Attack and an Attack stat higher than Mega Mawile, it's very possible for faster Pokemon to get KO'd by Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch is also useful to revenge kill things and helps it remain useful for a team if it can't set up. I'd also like to mention that Grav Apple on the switch + Sucker Punch follow-up is a good combo, since Grav Apple has a 100% chance to lower Defense.

Also, don't bother Gigantimaxing Flapple. This switches Max-Overgrown with Gmax-Trartness, and Max Overgrown is more useful because it lets Flapple heal itself a bit and powers up every Grass-Type move it uses for the next five turns.

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However, G-Max Tartness does lower the Pokémon’s evasiveness by 1, which is useful for Flapple’s Hustle
why do you have hp investment? you need to be as fast and as strong as possible
there might be important speed benchmarks that this Flapple satisfies without going the full 252. I don't know what that would be, though.
OK, you're suggesting to run 252 Speed for no reason other that you might, and I do emphasize might, come across an extremely obscure Pokemon that has 238 Speed. In which case I remind you that it is in my best interest to give Flapple the best chance against an opposing team as possible.  There's always a small chance that the 24 HP EVs I gave Flapple might be meaningful--it could save it from an OHKO or allow it to fire off an extra Attack after Life Orb--is it likely?  No, no it isn't.  But if the other option is to lose that small advantage over the potential to outspeed a threat that you'll never encounter then it's simply more beneficial to run the extra HP.   Pokemon's a game of numbers; which of these is more likely to help you out in the long run?
Also Gallade&Gardevoir, I know it might look like that -1 evasiveness could be useful, but think about two things: The first is that Dynamax prevents you from missing, so the evasiveness drop remains strictly useless until it has finished Dynamaxing.  The second is that a Dynamaxed Flapple is literally the single most Powerful Pokemon in the game right now in terms of raw offensive power.  Flapple can't take advantage of the evasiveness drop if the Pokemon it wants to use the evasiveness against are dead.
still better to run max speed
Defiantly denying my reasoning with just a single sentence certainly doesn't have any chance of swaying my opinion, and to be honest comes across as rude too.
it's just correct so I don't need to back it up. running evs other than max in two is very rare
So your reasoning is that you're right just because you're right huh?  Alright bro, you do you.  Just do me a favor and pay it some thought as to why you might want to run EVs other than max in two before you answer next time.
If what you're saying is true about the raw offensive power, than I am so lucky I caught a Shiny one
It does truly have that kind of attack power if IF:

It has Hustle, and

It can go against an opponent that has a defensive typing in its favor. The only thing holding that power back is that its STAB options aren't very good at coverage and Fairy types tend to be bulky, so when they resist Sucker Punch and block Outrage entirely, even a Grav Apple won't OHKO a lot of those threats.
1 vote

Flapple @ Liechi Berry (raises atk when low health)
Ability: Ripen
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Rollout
- Grav Apple
- Acrobatics
Dragon Dance up, when Liechi berry triggers, (whose effects are doubled) acrobatics and grav apple until you get KOed. Rollout for ice types.

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Heavy Slam and Fly are both awful moves on Flapple.
I think I'll change it to rollout
Rollout is awful too.
This thing is too frail for liechi berry
0 votes

Flapple @ Life Orb/Yache Berry
Ability: Hustle/Ripen
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Grav Apple
- Dual Wingbeat
- Outrage
- Sucker Punch/Dragon Dance
Grav Apple is STAB and lowers the oppoment's defense. Dual Wingbeat gives Bug coverage. Outrage is a second STAB. Sucker Punch is a great priority move and when Flapple is at low health, the oppoment will most likely deal damage. Dragon Dance increases speed and attack, helping Flapple to outspeed some threats and hit harder.

I've hoped I've helped!

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0 votes

Mixed Flapple
Gen 8 ZU

Flapple @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Grav Apple
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn

A Mixed Flapple set that is to be used during Grassy Terrain. Grassy Glide is STAB that has priority in Grassy Terrain if you need to revenge kill something faster than you in Grassy Terrain. Grav Apple is STAB that lowers the defense stat of opposing Pokemon when it hits. Draco Meteor is dragon STAB that can allow you to do more damage to physically defensive Pokemon. U-Turn is for pivoting.

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0 votes

Flapple @ Focus Sash
Ability: Hustle / Ripen
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Grav Apple
- Outrage
- Acrobatics
- Dragon Dance

I do not like the accuracy drop of hustle if you don't mind it then run hustle, also with gravity support then hustle is perfect especially with Grav apple. So the set is basically spam dragon dance until you lose your focus sash, then sweep. Grav apple and outrage are stab and acrobatics doubles in power without focus sash plus coverage.

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0 votes

Gen 9 PU Choice Specs

Flapple @ Choice Specs
Ability: Ripen
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain / Leaf Storm
- U-turn

This is the Choice Specs set Flapple uses in Gen 9 PU. Yes, Choice Specs Flapple is actually a thing in PU. There are a couple reasons for this. 1: Dragon STAB is pretty good in PU at the time of this post, and Draco Meteor is the strongest Dragon STAB Flapple has, making up for the base 95 Special Attack Flapple has. 2: Using Choice Specs Flapple lets you have the surprise factor against opponents expecting physical Flapple.

Draco Meteor is used for a powerful Dragon STAB that is used for strong power early- to mid-game. Dragon Pulse is used for a more accurate and safer Dragon STAB that is useful late game when the opponent's team is weakened. Giga Drain is used for a Grass STAB that lets Flapple have HP recovery while dealing damage, while Leaf Storm allows Flapple to have a powerful Grass STAB. U-turn allows Flapple to pivot out from the Steel-types this set draws in. Dragon is used as the Tera type to make Flapple's Dragon STABs hit harder.

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