| Type: | Checks | Counters | Explanation | How it fares vs BU | How it fares vs Band | How it fares vs Scarf |
| Bug |   Sticky Web | none | Buzzwole and Heracross resist both of urshifu's stabs and can take any of its common coverage moves with ease. | Even after a bulk up Buzzwole can still easily wall urshifu because of its massive defense stat, while heracross might not be able to reliably KO it it will leave enough of a dent for a teammate like Scizor to clean up. | Buzzwole still walls Urshifu perfectly even with the added power of Choice Band. Heracross can switch in and OHKO if its scarf, otherwise it cannot safely come in. | Both mons check urshifu even better if its scarf because now it is tremendously weak against them and the rest of the team. |
| Dark | N/a | | | | | |
| Dragon |  
 (sometimes) | none | Boots Dragonite with multiscale and dual wingbeat / Superpower consistently force Urshifu out of the game and puts pressure on both fighting and Dark teams. Latios also beats non sucker punch variants of urshifu very consistently. | Bulk Up results in some annoying 50/50's for Dragonite, as it would like to Dragon Dance and use superpower to OHKO, but if Urshifu bulks up instead of attacking on the DD turn, it can result in either an annoying boosting war or annoying 50/50's with Sucker Punch vs Extreme Speed. Even when you get hit you might have to deal with sucker punch 50/50's. However this is not an Urshifu exclusive problem as many offensive pokemon with boosting moves do this with dragonite as well, so I don't think its really that unhealthy. Latios can trick Urshifu on a predicted Sucker Punch and either lock it into bulk up or Sucker Punch with either specs or scarf. Ideally you want to give it specs but scarf is not horrible for Dragon as a whole to deal with, especially since it lacks its coverage moves and can't effectively use sucker punch. | Since you can tell it is band once dragonite gets hit, if you clicked DD you should force it out every time. You can't switch into it unless it uses CC which it will most likely not do. Latios has to play 50/50's but once again this isn't a problem exclusive to urshifu. | Latios consistently beats this set if it runs a choice scarf once Urshifu gets rocks chip. Urshifu is also forced into many 50/50's due to hydreigon now being a viable switch-in on wicked blow, Dragonite also straight up checks it and never has to worry about sucker punch. |
| Electric |    | none | All of the pokemon listed offensively force it out, none of them can switch in but with pivot support from rotom-wash or heat it can be very managable. | Rotom can threaten a burn and then pivot into Koko who kills urshifu for free and has no worries about sucker punch. Zapdos and Achu can also do this but Tapu Koko is the most consistent and reliable check. | This set is harder for rotom to switch into but easier to check once scouted. Once the electric user knows it is band they can send threaten double switches with koko and also use substitute on Achu to bait out sucker punch and get free pressure on the opposing team. | Scarf, while faster than Koko, is still extremely weak and consistently gets pivoted on and weakened by rotom. It has no coverage moves to really hit any electric types hard either and the common ones like iron head are resisted so generally this set is pretty useless vs electric. |
| Fairy | Pretty much anything but specifically,   |  | Fairy as a whole only fears iron head from the choiced variants of urshifu, but it has access to easy screens and a STAB that will pretty much always OHKO urshifu no matter how pitifully weak the individual pokemon may be. Fairy also still has a great MU vs fighting and Dark consistently so Urshifu's teammates can't really do that much to help it in this regard either. | The way you check this set can be repeated for pretty much all the other sets, but essentially klefki gets screens up and if urshifu bulks up, congrats! You now know it has no iron head so you can freely send in literally any non-psychic type fairy and you should be able to beat it consistently. | Same as BU just make sure to use fini as it is neutral to Iron head and can take Poison Jab pretty easily with screens up. | n/a |
| Fighting | N/a | | | | | |
| Fire | none | none | Admittedly, there isn't a ton fire can do consistently to beat this mon. However, even if Urshifu is banned, fire will still struggle to Fighting because of Terrakion and Keldeo. Dark on the other hand will have a really hard time beating Fire without this mon as Cinderace can freely use HJK without worrying about getting obliterated by Band Sucker Punch, which actually makes the current matchup a lot worse in terms of balance. | Your best bet is to try and use rotom-H to burn urshifu, then it becomes easier for Cinderace to handle. Either that or try and get lucky wiith a flame body burn from volcarona or moltres. | Cinderace has to play 50/50's here and that's even if the set is scouted, hence why it isn't a consistent way to deal with the mon. | This is the only set fire can consistently beat but it has to be scouted by either torkoal or a bulky rotom heat, can potentially result in their death, hence why they also aren't consistent checks. |
| Flying |    (Choice sets) | none (Well  is one but no one is using that) | Flying has some of the most consistent answers and checks to urshifu in the entire metagame. With great bulky pivots to stomach Urshifu's hard hits and also scout the set effectively. Moltres-g and Zappy-g both take a hit from urshifu and fire back a powerful move that can usually OHKO it. Dragonite also works just like how I described in the Dragon section, and regular Zapdos is also a great offensive check to force out the slower sets. Corviknight and Skarmory are both good pivots into Urshifu, however, Corviknight comes wwith the benefit of pressure which allows wicked blow to only be used 4 times against it before being completely unusable, which makes it a better check IMO. | Against Bulk up, Skarmory can usually switch in consistently even on a bulk up and force it out with whirlwind. Unfortunately this comes with the caviat of potentially having a more dangerous mon like Hydreigon come in for free but this is not an issue exclusive to dark, so its not really that problematic. That being said, you can also still force it out with Zappy G due to it resisting both STABS and having access to thunderous kick which nullifies Urshifu's defense boosts. Tornadus T can also do wonders vs this set thanks to regen and its amazing bulk allowing it to force Urshifu out pretty well as well as taunt stopping it from bulking up period. This paired with uturn makes it a pretty great option to use against it and is still useful for things besides Urshifu. | Band requires you to scout it out with skarmory or corviknight before trying to check it. Corviknight here is actually very good as it forces urshifu to only be able to use wicked blow 4 times against it, which means that in a one on one situation it will either completely drain Urshifu's PP or at least leave a massive dent in it while still being relatively healthy thanks to roost. While this can be taken advantage of by the dark user and allow them to switch in tyranitar or something even more threatening you still have team support that allows you to deal with these mons rather effectively so it isn't that problematic. Oh and also if does KO Corv that means that one of your many checks gets to fire off a powerful move against the dark team, especially Zappy g who tears through the type pretty well. Rocky Helmet Skarmory is also still helpful against this set, it just makes urshifu easier to revenge kill but comes at the cost of losing one of your best walls. Which is why IMO corviknight is better but the point still stands that there is viable counterplay. | Scarf gets checked easily by Corviknight with pressure and also skarmory switches into it for free with pretty much no worries. You don't even need to offensivly check it because it now gets walled due to the power drop from scarf. |
| Ghost |  | none | Ok yeah of course this mon absolutely obliterates ghost like come on now if Pandoro got sucker punch this would still be a problem for most ghost teams. The main thing that takes urshifu over the edge in this matchup is its speed tier being just 2 points faster than jolly mimikyu and its ability to ignore kings shield entirely. That being said, Mimikyu is still one of urshifu's greatest checks thanks to disguise. But yeah ghost has a pretty hard time against dark anyway, urshifu just makes it a tiny bit more braindead easy to win this MU. For fighting, its the only way the type can even deal with ghost as the rest of ghosts mons pretty much screw the type over, and the MU is pretty volatile as a result so its not really that unhealthy in that aspect either. If the ghost user preserves mimikyu's diguise vs fighting, they have a pretty solid chance at winning as spectrier causes 50/50s with any of the non-scarf sets. The actual scarf set is beaten by corsola-g consistently. | It has to play 50/50's with Spectrier Will-o-wisp but aside from that yeah this mon runs ghost over without mimikyu checking it. Every time mimikyu comes in though a mon on dark or fighting may die so one has to be wary of that. | Spectrier pretty much has to use will-o-wisp against urshifu here so that Corsola can wall it. Otherwise yeah its a sack fest with mimikyu and urshifu killing things again. | Spectrier loses this but Corsola beats it 1v1. However corsola just invites something like hydreigon in for free so yeah its still hopeless, but dark just rails ghost anyway this generation so its not really exclusively urshifu's fault. |
| Grass |  | none | Urshifu naturally destroys balanced types and grass is no different. But as it is a balance type grass does have ways to combat urshifu's dominating offense thanks to Whimsicott. Whimsi's typing and speed allow it to consistently force out urshifu and allow other grass mons like Rillaboom or Tapu Bulu do work. The grass vs dark MU is pretty rough for grass but that's mainly due to hydreigon and not so much urshifu, he's just the cherry on top. Grass vs Fighting is also fighting favored once again not due to urshifu but because hawlucha/Zapdos-G are incredibly strong against the type as well as buzzwole/Heracross. So in general while urshifu is good into grass, its not really unhealthy or one of the big players of the MU. | Switching into this Pokemon is pretty much impossible because even if it didn't have unseen fist its typing and moves just pack an incredibly hard punch against the entire type, which is unfortunately a notorious problem with grass against other types like Dragon, Electric, Psychic, and others. So this flaw being exploited by urshifu isn't really something he exclusively does. That being said if you end up sacking something to it you are pretty much forced to force it out with whimsicott then make plays from there. | Against Band Grass suffers the same problems even when the set is scouted. You pretty much have to pick a sack and then send in whimsicott and try to make plays from there. Once again, this isn't something exclusivly urshifu does because even on his own type, Hydreigon with choice specs or even without them causes grass to pick a pokemon to sack to it. Bisharp also similarly causes annoying 50/50's for the type and weavile can sweep the entire type (bar ferrothorn), etc. Urshifu is once again just the cherry on top of the pain pie that is this mu for grass. | Scarf once again is pretty useless because now the set can be scouted by ferrothorn and other walls like amoongus. Amoongus also just completely walls the set and threatens to sleep something in return, which is never ideal for any type. Whimsicott has to be careful of Iron Head which can cause some annoying 50/50's if your amoongus is low but generally this set is far more managable for grass than the other two. |
| Ground | none |  | Ground is really strange with Urshifu. It was once able to deal with it fine thanks to Landorus-I's powerful special attacks and superior speed tier, but with its sudden quickban ground has been scrambling for ways to consistently offensivly check this mon, and so far there really aren't that many. Hippowdon thankfully is a counter to urshifu 98.8% of the time with Leftovers if Urshifu is +1 or banded, which is better counterplay than a lot of other types on its own. However grounds inability to offensivly force Urshifu out makes it tough for the type to really get its turn going. However, while urshifu is very tough for the type to deal with, dark has two even bigger threats that on their own force a certain pokemon to be run on the type. Those threats are weavile and zarude. Zarude beats hippo consistently and never has to worry about status thanks to jungle healing, and also does nasty amounts of damage to every other mon and has very little counterplay besides running mamoswine. The same can be said for weavile but while that mon is easier to revenge kill, it also is harder to counter and stop from coming in multiple times. Also fighting has keldeo which completely 6-0s the matchup if played perfectly so in general, urshifu isn't the main thing making this MU difficult for Ground to handle. | Against Bulk up, Hippo can force it out with whirlwind, but that'll bring in zarude or something even worse so its not really that great. But for forcing out urshifu hippo is pretty consistent here. | Same story as Bulk up | Same story as Bulk up |
| Ice |   | (Choice sets) | I've seen ice mains complain about this mon a lot so I thought that during my research I would've seen that urshifu was yet another cherry on top of a bad MU for ice, except that isn't even the case. Ninetales-alola is a really consistent check to urshifu and paired with avalugg makes a pretty good anti-urshifu combo. That being said the mu for ice against fighting is still bad because of Terrak + Keldeo. However for dark Ice actually has the advantage due to mons like Glastrier and once again ninetales-alola beating the type pretty easily. Kyurem is also a massive problem for more bulky dark teams as its focus blasts and Draco Meteors tear through the defensive core and by assosciation its offensive pokemon as well. So in general this doesn't even seem to be that problematic its just a matter of playing well and scouting effectively. | Against Bulk up you can phase out urshifu with piloswine or even swap in avalugg and phase it out. Cloyster's spikes and/or toxic spikes can also make this incredibly good as a strategy as paired with hail/sandstorm urshifu will get worn down consistently during the match which can lead it to being in Ice shard range of any of ice's offensive pokemon. | Against Band it becomes harder to switch into but once scouted you can always force it out with ninetales and even potentially get screens up based on what move it uses. If Urshifu has iron head avalugg still tanks it because avalugg is just that fat, however it no longer can take a Close Combat so the ice user has to be wary of that. Overall though it is still easier to check. Also, galrian darmanitan can viably check this set if its locked into a move that isn't sucker punch, which can be converted into a free kill for the ice user. | Against Scarf you always send in avalugg and you should never have a problem against it. If the dark or fighting user takes advantage of this and doubles out into something like hydreigon to beat avalugg, you will have to sack something but that gives you an incredible amount of momentum in the match as it gives you a free turn for either veil, a Kyurem attack, or time to set up your iron defense avalugg if you run that. Overall, the mon becomes a little more annoying to offensively check, but is far easier to defensively check. |
| Normal |  (non-scarf) |
none | its normal and normal still has no ghost type and even if it did it would get sucker punched. I don't think there is a single good fighting-type pokemon that isn't the bane of normal's existence, but that aside urshifu does nothing special that a regular fighting type like keldeo, terrakion, or even Toxicroak doesn't do. Ditto is obviously still a check and a pretty dangerous one too for dark teams since dark hates dealing with this mon more than other types. | Sack and check with ditto, that's really the best way to beat this mon with normal otherwise you kinda get clobbered. Other options include glaring with heliolisk to slow it down into bewear range but that's about it. | Bewear eats wicked blow for breakfast but gets demolished by close combat so just try to sack and use ditto again as like I mentioned prior, an urshifu is very dangerous into dark and they can't force it out that well. | Bewear forces it out every time but can't switch in, its overall easier to deal with on normal though despite the scarf making ditto checking a little harder. |
| Poison |  | none | Weezing-g is one of the best checks to urshifu in the metagame second to buzzwole. The only move that it fears is iron head and even then it would have to be switched into it in order for it to be a bad trade for the poison user. It consistently beats the scarf and bulk up sets with realitve ease and helps out immensely in both MU's just by being present. The only downside is that it is the only mon that can do anything to stop Urshifu consistently, as nihilego pretty much never viably runs dazzling gleam and still has to fear sucker punch. Gengar has too many 50/50's associated with what it wants to do to beat urshifu so its not consistent enough to be a true check. This is a problem exclusive to urshifu admittedly, as the other mons on dark don't really do anything spectacular against poison unless they use krookodile, who is currently niche. | Against BU, once it reveals that it has it, weezing completely dominates it and forces it out every time. It can be safely scouted with pex or amoong thanks to regen. | Against Band, weezing can check it once it comes in during a neutral turn. The urshifu user actually has to be careful with which move they use as poison is notorious for its ability to spread status, which means that if urshifu gets a status effect its guessing games could end up being fatal for it. That being said though if weezing is gone this becomes a bloodbath for the poison user. | Against Scarf, Weezing switches in pretty safely. Since there are very few things on dark that outright threaten it, it won't have to worry about Urshifu uturning into another potential threat. |
| Psychic | | none | This was one of the types urshifu dominates against, even with Tapu lele it can be killed with minor chip like 2 turns of sandstorm or rocks and get killed by scarf wicked blow. There is no counterplay except for one mon that also happens to completely dominate both dark and fighting as a while, Hatterene. While it has fallen in viability, one of the things it still does well is guarentee the psychic user never loses to dark or fighting. Its access to trick room and lele's psychic terrain support allow it to destroy entire teams if it gets set up which can be very easy. If urshifu kills anything on psychic, suddenly hatterene gets a free turn and the dark player has to pick 4 mons they want to sacrifice or lose tyranitar. Overall this mon isn't getting enough spotlight as a check for psychic possibly due to lele's dominance but it is definitely a viable option to deal with this mon as otherwise urshifu does crush it. | Against BU, Hatterene can come in after a teleport pivot from slowbro or slowking and proceed to either click dkiss or trick room, both ensuring urshifu's demise if it doesn't switch out into ttar. | Against Band, the same gameplan except tapu lele with scarf destroys it. | Against scarf, Hatterene beats it if pivoted into similar to bulk up, it cannot switch in when rocks are up. Iron head also does less than Wicked Blow to it. |
| Rock |  Sticky Web | none | Interestingly rock and dark have a pretty even MU that is slightly favored to rock thanks to terrakion, lycanroc, and webs existing. In fact rock checks urshifu better than most of the top tier types in the metagame, which is quite amazing. | Against BU, if it does it in front of shuckle its basically gg as that means shuckle encore's it and gets webs up for free, while putting in nihilego to revenge kill it. | Against band, Terrakion beats it straight up with or without webs and its forced out every time. | Against scarf, Terrakion and Lycanroc beat it with webs up assuming terrakion isn't scarf. If terrak is scarf it beats it every time. |
| Steel | none | none | Just like normal, steel notoriously sucks against a majority of fighting types. Unlike normal however, they have a ghost type that can actually fend off most of them. Urshifu is not one of them. Now while admittedly unseen fist makes urshifu very frustrating for steel to handle as they can't pivot around it, this doesn't remove the fact that hydreigon also destroys the type on its own with any of its natural sets as long as they have a fire move. Urshifu just makes the MU even more overkill and won't really make it that much easier for dark users. That being said it is still incredibly unhealthy in this matchup but pokemon that are unhealthy for a matchup they are naturally good in isn't usually a reason for banning something (see: scizor vs fairy or ice). So I think while this is a good example to show how oppressive urshifu is, it isn't really a good enough reason to ban as the other types mentioned in this post still all have viable counterplay. | Not much you can really do against any of the sets besides trying to do pressure nonsense with corviknight, dark teams are too stacked with hydreigon and urshifu to even make a default gameplan | n/a | n/a |
| Water |  :Urshifu-R: | | Tapu Fini saves this balance type from being ripped apart by urshifu. It consistently switches in, uses draining kiss or moonblast to force it out or get a ko on a teammate, and repeats multiple times until the endgame where fini's team can finish off urshifu themselves regardless of the set. Keldeo and Urshifu-R can also check Urshifu-S. | Tapu Fini switches in every time against this set and applies pressure just by being there, also comes with the added bonus of weakening hydreigon's dragon STAB for its teammates which gives it a great presence for the rest of the game. Keldeo with aura spehre or focus blast checks this set pretty effectively if swapped in via slowbro teleport. Same applies to urshifu-R | Same story as BU except fini takes more damage and will probably need to use draining kiss if it doesn't want to get too worn down throughout the game. | This set is useless vs water due to it getting countered by fini and checked by Urshifu-R and Keldeo really easily so its generally fine in that regard. |
