What is a good moveset for Swellow?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Swellow, 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.

Swellow Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Swellow @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace / Brave Bird
- Facade
- Steel Wing
- U-Turn

Aerial Ace/Brave Bird: I reccomend Aerial Ace because you are already taking enough damage from the Flame Orb.

Facade: Works great with Flame Orb.

Steel Wing: Your only defense against Rock and Ice types.

U-Turn: In case you have to switch out you might as well do damage. You will hit first 90% of time because it is so fast.

Flame Orb will activate Guts to make your attack acceptable. And no, the burning doesn't cancel out the Guts boost. This has been confirmed.

Comments

With guts burning wont reduce the attack and also wont do damage as far as I know

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It does do damage.

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I have a very similar set mine would be Brave Bird, Facade, Steel Wing and Protect my ability is guts and it has a flame orb. Protect so it can start out right away first turn with burn , Steel Wing for Defense possible boost and for ice and rock types, Facade for the ability and status Facade boost so it's like a plus two max attack Swellow and Brave Bird for high damage plus burn for high attack my Pokemon is Max attack and Speed with Jolly nature

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Just because it has guts doesn't mean you will be ok and not take damage from burn

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How about using Echoed Voice instead of Facade? Cause I see Echoed Voice can do up to 200 damage.

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DraNix, Echoed Voice take several turns to do damage and is a special move, plus this set has a -Satk nature. Facade can do 140 damage right away with the burn + guts and is STAB

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I just saw when the comment was posted :D, oops

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specs swellow best swellow set

Answer 2

Gen V

Swellow (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Facade
- Roost
- Quick Attack
- Pluck

Comments

This moveset is terrible! With such a speed (max 383 on lv 100) you dont need no quick attack. Also, what happened to you? Two normal-type attacks? WIth that nature and EVs noone will outspeed you! Also, pluck is a weak move, rather use brave bird to later heal it with roost. Daaamn

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Reasoning here:

I'd rather not have Brave Bird, since I'd rather not OHKO myself, with recoil and Flame Orb. So Pluck is the next best. Swellow isn't the type of Pokemon who can OHKO the foe, and as such I'd rather not really damage with Brave Bird but have Swellow KOd. And just because it has high speed doesn't mean it can't be outsped. Priority, higher base speed, Baton Passing speed boosts,speed boosts in general, Choice Scarf, all these things make it so that Swellow can be outsped a fair amount actually. So that is where priority comes in. And its not like it has other moves. Steel Wing is possible, but I'd rather not have Steel type coverage, seeing as Rock types usually have high defense and can take multiple Steel Wings and Ice types have poor defense and should be taken down by Facade.

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With Guts you wont get damaged from burn and poison as far as I know.

*moves away from the mic to find out that pluck has the same base power as areal ace

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Guts still makes you get damaged by Burn and poison. The only thing it blocks about status effects is burns attack drop.

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This is not regarding swellow, but would a guts ability conkeldurr technically be better than a sheer force one? It could hold a flame orb and have facade.

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@trachy: Oh I didnt know
@AleX: Yes. Even though a sheer force one could hold a life orb and then it wont get damage from it as far as I know

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You don’t seem to know that much then

Answer 3

Swellow (F) @ Flame Orb/Toxic Orb

Trait: Guts

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)

• Brave Bird
• Facade
• U-turn
• Protect/Roost

Brave Bird is very good STAB.
Facade is boosted by Guts and STAB.
U-turn is for scouting and sending in another teammate.
Protect is used to get the Boost from the respective orbs, safely.
Toxic Orb will do less damage the first three turns but after that Flame Orb will do less.
Roost heals Swellow and punishes Pokemon who try to stall it out with its orb. Obviously when using Roost Flame Orb is the better choice.

Answer 4

Swellow (M) @ Flame Orb

Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SpA)
- Facade
- Aerial Ace
- U-Turn
- Tailwind

Good support Swellow. The ability to set up sweeps for the rest of the team using Tailwind is great, while still keeping the ability to hit hard and fast. Facade is STAB and is insanely powerful when combined with Guts and Flame Orb. Aerial Ace > Pluck because the perfect accuracy is nice, and berries are very uncommon in competitive battling. U-Turn is great for scouting and will go first most of the time. Tailwind is obviously for team support and can get other sweeps going.

Answer 5

This one's a bit of a curveball.

Swellow @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Brave Bird
-Facade
-Steel Wing
-U-Turn

This Swellow is meant to be used in NU. Predict a Toxic or Will-O-Wisp, then switch it in. Click Facade and watch things die.

Be sure to watch for Ghosts. You can run Scrappy and Return if you REALLY fear them, but I think that would be a waste of Guts' potential power boost.

Answer 6

Tsubasa and Radiocool have a fantastic moveset for Swellow, but moves like Roost, Agility, and Tailwind just simply aren't moves that I would recommend (no offense of course). Swellow just isn't bulky and is way too frail for those kinds of moves. Just give him an all out sweeping moveset and you should be fine.

Swellow @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird (120 base power, but has recoil. Worth it, though)
- Facade (Has 140 base power if you have a status affliction. Flame Orb's got you covered :P Pairs well with Guts)
- U-Turn (I'm out of here, folks!)
- Steel Wing / Pursuit / Protect (Coverage [Steel Wing] / Attack when foe switches [Pursuit] / Stall for a turn to activate Flame Orb [Protect]. The choice is yours.)

So yeah, very similar to Tsubasa and Radiocool's moveset.

Answer 7

Special Attacker Moveset

Swellow @ Choise Specs
Ability: Scrappy
Evs: 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

• Air Slash
• Heat Wave
• Boomburst
• Hidden Power (Ground)

Explanation: Now that Swellow got a Buff in Special Attack, a Special Attacking Swellow can be viable and Choise Specs further boosts that Special Attack. Air Slash is STAB along with a chance to make the Foe Flinch. Heat Wave gives Ice type coverage along with hitting Celesteela, Scizor and Ferrothorn. Boomburst is STAB with 140 Base Power and with Scrappy, it can counter Ghost types that are in your way. Hp Ground is Electric and Rock type coverage and can hit Primal Groudon.

Comments

How do I get heat wave?

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You can get Heat Wave on Swellow via B2/W2, ORAS, or USUM Move Tutor.

Answer 8

Swellow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- U-Turn

Boomburst: Boomburst is the main move Swellow is gonna be using, It is stab, base 140 Power and with scrappy, can also hit ghost types..

Air Slash: In case you're against super tanky mons, you can hope for some air slash flinches.

Heat Wave: Let's say battle starts and there's a steel type on your opponent's side, use Heat Wave for massive damage.

U-Turn: In case you're in a bad matchup overall, this is for pivot. I know we're Timid, but base 70 power move from a 85 base attack Pokemon still does decent damage and can also break focus sashes.

Comments

U put Air Slash twice, I think u meant U-Turn? :)

Answer 9

Swellow @ Flame Orb

Trait: Guts

EV's: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Jolly Nature: (+Spd -SAtk)

-Facade
-Brave Bird
-U-Turn/Roost/Protect
-U-Turn/Roost/Protect

The first two moves are obvious. Facade is stupidly powerful with Guts + STAB + Flame Orb. It reaches 236 Base Power. Brave Bird is basically it's only option to a STAB Flying move over base 60. So it's nice. The last two moves are based on what you want. U-Turn is awesome because it allows you to scout and get away from Steel and Rock type Pokemon which run amuck in the metagame.
Roost let's you heal off brave bird damage and flame orb damage. Protect is also a very nice option as it allows you to scout what your opponent is going to do, and allow you to get the instant flame orb boost.

These EV's and Nature give it 383 speed, which is just unbelievable.

Flame Orb powers up Guts and Facade.

Hope you guys like this moveset!

Answer 10

(M) Swellow (Normal/Flying) – Physical Attacker & Scout
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk)
Item: Flame Orb
-Protect
-U-Turn
-Facade
-Brave Bird / Endeavor

Flame Orb activates Guts which activates Facade. Protect to safely get the boost from the Flame Orb. U-Turn for scouting. Brave Bird / Endeavor as a last resort.

Answer 11

Swellow@Burn Orb
Trait: Guts
252 Atk/252 Spd/4 Def
Adamant Nature
Brave Bird - Has great damage, and with that kind of defense, he's not going to survive long, so the recoil doesn't matter too much.

U-Turn - Swellow is insanely fast, so U-Turn is always a good choice as it allows for some free damage and quick switch into a tank like Chansey or a rocky helmet Skarmory.

Protect/Substitute - As I mentioned earlier, Swellow doesn't have much bulk, but for the burn orb to take effect, you need to wait a turn, and protect allows you to do so without getting OHKOd. ( I prefer protect over substitute because you only need to stall for one turn, and substitute makes you take damage, and with the burn, the brave bird, and the substitute, you might kill yourself. The priority on protect doesn't matter too much, because like I said earlier, you're not going to get outspend by much.)

Return - Return is Swellow's most powerful physical normal move, and because this set is physical, a move like boomburst wouldn't be practical.

Answer 12

Swellow @Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
Evs: 252 Atk/ 252 Speed/ 6 HP
Hasty or Jolly Nature(+Speed,-Def(Hasty),+Speed,-Sp Atk(Jolly).
- Facade
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Protect

When you first send out Swellow use Protect so it can get burned by the flame orb. Facade will do 70(original damage)+70(Burned)+35(Stab) which equals 175 damage for Facade if you want to switch just U-turn and use Brave Bird if you feel that Facade will not kill and a tip(use Brave Bird on ghost types).

Comments

Why hasty? He's not mixed

Answer 13

Swellow solely for damage. (Making the most of Guts)

Nature: Adamant
EV spread: Speed and Attack
Ability: Guts
Held item: Flame orb

Moveset:
Facade
Bravebird
Quick attack
Quick guard

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The point here is just doing damage, making the better of his Attack stat and his ability Guts, the maim move is facade for situations where a normal type move match well, Bravebird to deal with foes who are weak against flying type moves, Quick attack to finishing enemies with low health or to strike first when the situation demand, quick guard allow you defense for the enemies who will try to defeat you using high priority moves, trying to circunvent swellow high speed stat.

Answer 14

Swellow @Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
252 Speed/252 Attack/ 4 HP
Hasty Nature (-Def, +Speed)
Brave Bird - Recoil Damage, Physical, STAB
Agility - Swellow is wery fast before stat changes, imagine it with positive stat changes
Revesal - We have Life Orb, high recoil damage and Scrappy, so what about Revesal, move, which deals more damage the less swellow have HP
U-Turn - Use that, if Swellow is about to faint

Comments

A fast pokemon rarely needs to be faster

Answer 15

Swellow @Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk 4 Def 252 Spe

Facade
U- turn/Quick Attack
Brave Bird
Protect

Answer 16

This thing is evil
Pls note that I'm too lazy too think of a better acronym
F.E.A.S.T(taillow)@focus sash
Ability: Scrappy
- endeavor
- quick attack

F***ing
Evil
Annoying
Sparrow
Thingy

As it does not need EVs and nature, I decided against adding it

Comments

bruh FEAR tho


Also super unreliable strategy it gets shut down by switching, Psychic Terrain, Ghost types, multi hit moves... yeah.

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To counter ghost types it has Scrappy and I did not say it was foolproof

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lol oops.

Answer 17

Swellow @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SpDef/252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Brave Bird
-Facade
-Double Edge
-U-Turn

Answer 18

Gen 7 RU

Swellow @ Normalium-Z
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Work Up
- Boomburst
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Work Up is so you can boost your Special Attack. Boomburst is Swellow's strongest STAB move, and it hits ghost types thanks to Scrappy. If you manage to get a couple boosts from Work Up, Normalium-Z can make Boomburst become an incredibly dangerous one time nuke move. Heat Wave deals with steel and ice types. HP Ground is for rock and electric types. It would be best to send this out when Gigalith is knocked out or weakened.

Comments

It’s written “if you managed to get a few boots from *Boomburst*” rather than Work Up.