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Grookey is a serious threat in LC at the present, and very hard to counter. With Grassy Glide and Wood Hammer it can smash through quite a bit, Drain Punch gives it reliable recovery, Knock Off cripples the many Eviolite users in the tier, Acrobatics + Grassy Seed (or any consumable item, really) eliminates possible counters like Foongus, and Swords Dance just makes it even stronger. What're some of the best counters to it, so it doesn't sweep my entire team?

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idk much about LC...
How about Rowlet? it may be crippled by others + Acrobatics though.

236 Atk Grookey Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Rowlet: 22-26 (95.6 - 113%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
236 Atk Life Orb Rowlet Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 42-55 (200 - 261.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Axew resists its stab and has good movepool (X-scissor or Poison Jab can take care of it I guess).

220+ Atk Mold Breaker Axew Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 20-24 (95.2 - 114.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
236 Atk Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Axew in Grassy Terrain: 8-9 (38 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

Ponyta has high speed but shallow movepool. It can stall very well. It doesn't allow the oponent to use Knock off its Eviolite.

76 Atk Ponyta Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 32-42 (152.3 - 200%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Growlithe has intimidate and an okay movepool.

236 Atk Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 76 Def Eviolite Growlithe in Grassy Terrain: 8-9 (36.3 - 40.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
196+ Atk Growlithe Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 36-44 (171.4 - 209.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Salandit is an awesome glass cannon.

188 SpA Salandit Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey: 32-42 (152.3 - 200%) -- guaranteed OHKO
188 SpA Salandit Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey: 32-38 (152.3 - 180.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Other options are Torchic, Charmander, Fletchling and Darumaka (along with Galar form).
@Staraptor that's very helpful, thanks. If you want to put that as an answer, I'll upvote it.

4 Answers

5 votes
 
Best answer

There's no analysis right now for Grookey, so we can't tell its counters from that. All the recommendations are based on what higher ladder >1700 around uses.


Mentioning the most frequent counters based on Grookey's item usage by usage stats:

| Checks and Counters |
| Foongus 79.276 (83.30±1.01) |
| (29.6% KOed / 53.7% switched out)|
| Salandit 79.017 (90.48±2.86) |
| (29.5% KOed / 61.0% switched out)|
| Koffing 77.182 (83.01±1.46) |
| (28.1% KOed / 54.9% switched out)|
| Woobat 74.851 (82.10±1.81) |
| (34.7% KOed / 47.4% switched out)|
| Trubbish 71.008 (85.42±3.60) |
| (17.7% KOed / 67.7% switched out)|
| Oddish 70.442 (85.71±3.82) |
| (23.8% KOed / 61.9% switched out)|
| Skorupi 70.311 (89.74±4.86) |
| (28.2% KOed / 61.5% switched out)|
| Stunky 68.080 (85.71±4.41) |
| (30.2% KOed / 55.6% switched out)|
| Rowlet 67.034 (89.66±5.66) |
| (24.1% KOed / 65.5% switched out)|
| Ponyta 66.878 (74.40±1.88) |
| (27.1% KOed / 47.3% switched out)|
| Bulbasaur 61.757 (76.52±3.69) |
| (26.5% KOed / 50.0% switched out)|
| Vullaby 61.537 (65.43±0.97) |
| (30.8% KOed / 34.7% switched out)|

Source (Grookey's check and counter section)

Among these, Foongus is most used for countering Grookey. Vullaby has the least, so I don't agree with PrimalKyogre on that point. The EV spread on Vullaby is never Maximum Defense, so using Vullaby isn't the best choice.

| Spreads |
| Jolly:0/236/76/0/0/196 31.835% |
| Modest:0/0/76/236/0/196 16.627% |
| Adamant:0/236/76/0/0/196 7.984% |
| Careful:116/0/76/0/156/116 4.491% |
| Modest:0/0/156/236/0/116 4.213% |
| Adamant:0/236/0/76/0/196 3.444%

Source: Vullaby's used spreads in Usage stats

Most used EV spread sets are offensive. Therefore, do not use Vullaby as an Grookey counter. Plus, Vullaby's a better U-Turn pivot with Berry Juice (47% and 67% respectively) compared to Eviolite and Roost (27% and 14% respectively). That makes Vullaby not a good choice to send to Grookey. So, what does ladder use the most for it?



Foongus @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 124 HP / 156 Def / 156 SpD
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Spore

Foongus is honestly the best counter. In high ladder, Grookey carries Life Orb 71%, Evilolite 19% and Grassy Seed a mere 5%. Acrobatics isn't even listed in the commonly used moves, therefore it's your best bet for handling Grookey.

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 124 HP / 156+ Def Eviolite Foongus in Grassy Terrain: 4-5 (16 - 20%) -- possible 6HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

236 Atk Grookey Acrobatics (55 BP) vs. 124 HP / 156+ Def Eviolite Foongus: 8-10 (32 - 40%) -- 1.1% chance to 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

On the other hand, Sludge Bomb is a nice OHKO.

0 SpA Foongus Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey: 24-30 (114.2 - 142.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Foongus is the best Poison-type counter for Grookey, Salandit is a nice check although it seems to take very less damage.

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Salandit in Grassy Terrain: 5-6 (23.8 - 28.5%) -- 3.7% chance to 4HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

Note that Salandit has a weakness to Stealth Rocks, which can leave you pretty vulnerable.
Koffing also works, although getting 3HKOed by Wood Hammer despite Eviolite and not getting any recovery can put into a disadvantage.

Woobat carries Grassy Seed for to counter Grookey. Simple gives Woobat a +2 Defense boost, which despite its mere Def of 43 allows it to dodge a 3HKO nearly.

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Wood Hammer vs. +2 76 HP / 252+ Def Grassy Seed Woobat in Grassy Terrain: 5-8 (20.8 - 33.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO

Trubbish tends to get 2HKOed without Eviolite by Life Orb Wood Hammer, which is pretty threatening. Note that it need to carry Recycle + Berry Juice for recovery, leaving no space for Eviolite.

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 116 HP / 100 Def Trubbish in Grassy Terrain: 12-16 (52.1 - 69.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

But since the damage output causes it to use Berry Juice, it can swiftly get the OHKO on it, or Recycle the item back.

Oddish, Stunky and Skorupi are some other options. though note that any poison type doesn't lose to Grookey can be used in the team. Rowlet, Ponyta and Bulbasaur are good options as well.


Tl;dr this are the most common counters. Note that for checking Grookey, any Pokemon that can outsped it forcing to use Grassy Glide, can survive one hit then land the OHKO can be used, but they aren't counters all the time since they always need a free-turn to switch and don't get recovery as always.

That's all, hope this helps.

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I loved the tl;dr lmao
Anyways nice answer +1!
Lol thanks.
Thanks!
No problem!
4 votes

idk much about LC... But here are some who can outspeed Grookey as well as OHKO them.

Ponyta has high speed but shallow movepool. It can stall very well. It doesn't allow the oponent to use Knock off its Eviolite.

76 Atk Ponyta Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 32-42 (152.3 - 200%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Salandit is an awesome glass cannon.

188 SpA Salandit Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey: 32-42 (152.3 - 200%) -- guaranteed OHKO
188 SpA Salandit Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey: 32-38 (152.3 - 180.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Choice Scarf Charmander can also be an option, but its Special movepool is poor and may not excel against other 'mons.

196 SpA Charmander Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey: 36-44 (171.4 - 209.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Choice Scarf Vulpix is a better option (as @Swastik said).

196 SpA Vulpix Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Grookey in Sun: 48-56 (228.5 - 266.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Fletchling has awesome ability Gale Wings and resists Grookey's Stab.

196 Atk Gale Wings Fletchling Dual Wingbeat (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 24-28 (114.2 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Here are some 'mons who can tank Grookey as well as OHKO them.

Growlithe has intimidate and an okay movepool.

236 Atk Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 76 Def Eviolite Growlithe in Grassy Terrain: 8-9 (36.3 - 40.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
196+ Atk Growlithe Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 36-44 (171.4 - 209.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Axew resists its stab and has good movepool. The opponent probably can't expect it.

236 Atk Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Axew in Grassy Terrain: 8-9 (38 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
220+ Atk Mold Breaker Axew Outrage vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 21-25 (100 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Finally, Vullaby, who can tank hits and Knock out Grookey, can play other major roles as well.

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 196 HP / 236+ Def Eviolite Vullaby in Grassy Terrain: 6-8 (23 - 30.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 4HKO
76 Atk Vullaby Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 30-36 (142.8 - 171.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Hope this helps.

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edited by
Scarf Charmander is not better than Scarf Vulpix.
idk much about LC...  I'll add that.
These are checks; what about counters?
The asker asked counters.
That was why I had commented, but the asker had asked me to answer...
2 votes

How about Vullaby?
The No.1 Pokémon in the viability rankings resists Grookey’s STAB and can OHKO with Brave Bird. Here’s a set and some caulculations:
Vullaby @ Eviolite
Vullaby
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 236 Def / 76 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Knock Off
- Defog
236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Wood Hammer vs. 196 HP / 236+ Def Eviolite Vullaby in Grassy Terrain: 6-8 (23 - 30.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 4HKO

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Grassy Glide vs. 196 HP / 236+ Def Eviolite Vullaby in Grassy Terrain: 4-5 (15.3 - 19.2%) -- possible 6HKO

236 Atk Life Orb Grookey Drain Punch vs. 196 HP / 236+ Def Eviolite Vullaby: 5-6 (19.2 - 23%) -- possible 5HKO

0 Atk Vullaby Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Grookey: 26-32 (123.8 - 152.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

It can reliably switch in to and OHKO Grookey, as well as providing very valuable utility outside of this matchup. It truly lives up to it’s ranking of No.1 in LC

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Thanks!
You’re welcome! Glad I could help
LooL poor primal now overlooked (dw sir you're epic :O )
–2 votes

Go with Larvesta, it might be a good counter for it.

Larvesta @ Berry Juice
Ability: Swarm
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 80 Def / 196 SpA / 156 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Psychic
- Giga Drain

by
> 236 Atk Grookey Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 76 HP / 80 Def Larvesta: 20-24 (86.9 - 104.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Acrobatics can still take it out, but thanks for the suggestion -- Larvesta does seem reliable. Are there any other good counters?
I dunno, try this:

Fletchling @ Berry Juice  
Ability: Gale Wings  
Level: 5  
EVs: 196 Atk / 132 SpD / 180 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Acrobatics/Dual Wingbeat  
- Will-O-Wisp  
- Swords Dance  
- Flame Charge
Why special Larvesta? It's physical most of the time.
Why do you say “might”? Are you not sure? I don’t think you should answer if you aren’t sure. Also, a counter is something that can reliably switch in to and eliminate with relative ease. For example, Blissey counters Spectrier, while Aegislash checks it because of Shadow Sneak but can’t switch in. Larvesta can’t switch in, however, making it a check.