What combination of moves, abilities, and type would have theoretically the best super-effective coverage?

Question

the moves include all moves from the Pokemon database, combination should be able to hit most Pokemon for supereffective damage. and if such a Pokemon exists, what would be the best counter to this Pokemon?

Comments

I changed the title to focus on type coverage as opposed to the "strongest Pokemon" (which could mean anything so isn't appropriate for this platform).
These questions are similar to this one and will likely lead to an answer:
* https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/114073/which-four-types-provide-the-most-coverage
* https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/234911/what-least-amount-types-that-cover-types-super-effectively

---

https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/114073/?show=395012#a395012
This answer in particular takes all of moves, abilities, and type into consideration while figuring out the best super-effective coverage out of 4 moves. Would this count as a dupe?

---

They are different questions, so no.

---

Do you want to ignore the target Pokemon's abilities?

---

i guess we should consider the targets abilities too

---

This was asked a couple months ago by Loki Ron

---

Can the user have flying press, freeze-dry, thousand arrows, mold breaker, or scrappy?

---

Soak + an Electric move + Neutralizing Gas hits every Pokemon super effectively. Unless someone can figure out a niche situation where this doesn't apply, I think this is the answer.

---

niche situations:

Neutralizing Gas cannot suppress another Pokémon's Neutralizing Gas, Multitype, Zen Mode, Stance Change, Power Construct, Schooling, RKS System, Shields Down, Battle Bond, Comatose, Disguise, Gulp Missile, Ice Face, As One, or Tera Shift.

I'm not sure if any of those aren't affected by Soak but they're not affected by NG

---

Soak fails on Pokémon with Multitype and RKS System and, as @MonkeyBusiness said, cannot be suppressed by Neutralizing Gas. Soak also fails on Terastalized Pokémon, which might be worth mentioning.
As Soak and Neutralizing Gas doesn't work on neither Arceus nor Silvally, you'd still need coverage against all single-type Pokémon.

---

Any Pokemon can Tera, which makes it more similar to a status condition than an alternate species or form. Saying we need to cover all Tera Pokemon is like saying we need to cover all Pokemon that use protect or have wonder guard entrained onto them. If the asker isn't responding to these comments anymore, I say we just worry about every form of every Pokemon and the abilities they can naturally have.

---

If we dont look at 100% odds, its possible to hit all pokemon supereffectively with: neutralizing gas
metronome (hope for a super effective move), thief (to steal items like berries that may nullify damage) soak, and some other move for niche situations.

---

I spent a pretty long time at this, and the best I could find (if we are looking at 100% odds), if you are able to terastalize, would be:
-Soak
-Electric move
-Tera Blast [Stellar] (hits every other tera'd Pokémon Super Effectively
-Ground Move / Fighting Move

This hits everything Super Effectively except some Arceus and Silvally forms.

If we aren't counting terastalization:
-Soak
-Electric Move
-Fighting move
-Flying move / Ice move / Ground move

OR

-Soak
-Electric move
-Ground move
-Flying move / Fighting move / Ice move

All of the sets above have Neutralizing Gas as your Ability. I don't think any items would help.
if we can manipulate RNG, then we can just spam Metronome and always get a Super Effective move. Neutralizing Gas allows you to ignore Earth Eater on pure Electric types, and other niche abilities I'm forgetting. Knock Off for good measure can be one of your other move slots just to be safe.

Also I would like to mention that, if Legends: Arceus counts for some reason, then the move Judgement there automatically becomes super-effective against anything it goes against.

Lemme know if there's anything obvious I missed and if this should be an answer.

Answer 1

Excluding Metronome or Judgement in PL:A, the following moveset is super-effective against all Pokémon:

JustATypicalPerson's Monster
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
- Soak
- Freeze-Dry
- Forest’s Curse
- Flying Press

Soak and Freeze-Dry serve as super-effective coverage against the vast majority of Pokémon. As far as I'm aware, Soak is only bypassed by Pokémon with the ability Magic Bounce, Good as Gold, Storm Drain, RKS System, and Multitype.
Forest’s Curse and Flying Press - Adds the Grass-type to any Pokémon, including Arceus and Silvally. Flying Press and Freeze-Dry cover every Silvally and Arceus type for super-effective damage after they are inflicted with Forest’s Curse.

Neutralizing Gas - Allows you to inflict Soak on Pokémon that are otherwise immune to it through their ability, besides Multitype and RKS System. Also bypasses abilities granting type immunities.

There are a few details worth noting, for anyone curious.

• Pokémon with Water Absorb are only immune to Water-type attacks, not status moves, so they are not immune to Soak.
• Any items that provide immunities to any necessary moves are consumed upon use. Therefore, they aren't anything to worry about.
• While Magic Powder could be seen as an alternative to Soak, it is a powder move, lending itself to a lot of immunities that would need plenty of other moves to account for.
• I neglected Terastalization for the sake of this answer. If it's included, the Stellar Tera type and either Tera Blast or Tera Starstorm is necessary.
• A similar moveset with Trick-or-Treat and Shadow Ball instead of Forest’s Curse and Flying Press covers most Pokémon, excluding Dark and Normal-type Silvally and Arceus. Despite this, the moveset has its own merits. Excluding Megas, Freeze-Dry and Shadow Ball already hit all Pokémon with Good as Gold, Magic Bounce, and Storm Drain super-effectively. There are no abilities that provide immunities to Ice-type moves, though Pokémon with Bulletproof are immune to Shadow Ball, meaning it should be switched off for a move like Hex instead. As Terastalization and Mega Evolution have never been in the same game yet, either Neutralizing Gas or Tera Blast + Tera Stellar can be taken off, depending on the game for this combination of moves.

A moveset like this isn't good at all for competitive use to be completely blunt, as a setup sweeper is a far superior choice instead of individually inflicting Soak or Forest’s Curse on each of your opponent's Pokémon. Regardless, this moveset would be easily shut-down by giving the Pokémon a choice item or Assault Vest through Trick or Switcheroo, or simply using Taunt on it. Any Pokémon that forces it to set up Soak or Forest’s Curse would leave it with a free turn to otherwise setup and/or deal damage to the Pokémon.

Comments

It is worth noting that the Ring Target needs to become the Normal types' held item, which this theoretical Pokemon cannot do itself.

/nds normal, !trick, !switcheroo, !thief, all (42 results)
Arboliva, Audino, Azurill, Bewear, Bouffalant, Braviary, Deerling, Delcatty, Ditto, Dolliv, Drampa, Dubwool, Eevee, Exploud, Furfrou, Happiny, Heliolisk, Helioptile, Herdier, Igglybuff, Lillipup, Loudred, Miltank, Munchlax, Patrat, Pidove, Regigigas, Rufflet, Sawsbuck, Silvally, Skitty, Smoliv, Snorlax, Stoutland, Stufful, Terapagos, Tranquill, Type: Null, Unfezant, Watchog, Whismur, Wooloo

So how can these Pokemon — barring those weak to Freeze-Dry — be covered?

---

Good catch! The Ring Target would have only been necessary for Normal-type Arceus and Silvally, as all other Normal-types cannot bypass Soak. A Fighting-type move would be more effective as a result, though, that exceeds the number of moves a Pokémon learns.

I found a better moveset since then however. Hopefully it doesn't have any problems to work out.