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They use to call treads "noob bait" and the "ambipom of OU". It put up some numbers back in the eleki / mag days but those are long gone.
It was always a rain staple due to its role compression + good defensive profile. With Rain's viability shooting up, Treads role compression becomes even more valuable, as it's volt switch and spin support pairs well with skewda and pelipper + makes it easy to bring in a partner like Arch in safely to start dealing big damage. Zapdos usage being replaced by Raging Bolt is good for Treads as well since it matches up much better vs that then Zapdos and is one of few decent checks to that mon.
The special attack is not great, but treads is good at making use of moves like Earth power to break through arch more consistently.
They use to call treads "noob bait" and the "ambipom of OU". It put up some numbers back in the eleki / mag days but those are long gone.
It was always a rain staple due to its role compression + good defensive profile. With Rain's viability shooting up, Treads role compression becomes even more valuable, as it's volt switch and spin support pairs well with skewda and pelipper + makes it easy to bring in a partner like Arch in safely to start dealing big damage. Zapdos usage being replaced by Raging Bolt is good for Treads as well since it matches up much better vs that then Zapdos and is one of few decent checks to that mon.
The special attack is not great, but treads is good at making use of moves like Earth power to break through arch more consistently.
valiant with boost move, hypnosis and hex was basically comparable to Pokémon’s with a STAB flinch move.
why is that? With a 40% chance of getting 1+ turns of sleep, valiant could effectively “flinch” past a check, 40% of the time.
If valiant misses, 40% of the time, it is punishable
If valiant gets 1 turn of sleep, 20% of the time, it is net inconsequential (and thus a waste of a move slot)
If valiant gets 2 turns of sleep, 20% of the time, it got an effective “flinch” verse it’s opponent
If valiant gets 3 turns of sleep, 20% of the time, it got an effective “double flinch” verse its opponent
unlike other common “flinch hax” fishers, such as iron head excadrill. Valiant doesn’t get to compress STAB and this “flinch hax” in one move. It has to dedicate a move.
also, it opens itself up to a completely wasted moveslot in other cases, making it more of a casino dice roll than a clearly OP threat.
Comparing sleep to flinch is oversimplifying, but it’s very similar. If a strong threat was over the edge with strong flinches, in the past, that strong threat was banned.
Valiant got special treatment because an old sleep clause was repealed.
252+ SpA Archaludon Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Treads: 151-178 (47 - 55.4%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO
No, not really. You live the 2nd Draco but it can just switch out. Forget Body Press, taking half from Draco makes you... not really a check at all, to be honest.
Granted that's uninvested Treads which is probably not what's being run, but Treads has no recovery so risking getting chunked by Draco every time it comes in makes it a really poor check.
"Despite its short limbs, Furret is very quick and agile. This allows Furret to escape even when in the arms of a human."
- Bulbapedia
"Furret deserves more than just a mere quote, so I brought it to OST and made an OU theme song representative of
Furret's destructive ferocity."
- Morkal
In the realm of battle, the creatures clash,
Furret rises from the ashes with a vicious gnash.
With its quick feet and sharp claws,
It strikes fear into the hearts of all.
With every move, Furret's domination grows,
Overwhelming Kingambit and Darkrai's darkest blows.
Furret scurries, swift like the wind,
Leaving its opponents trembling from within.
Furret's reign, unstoppable and fierce,
Its power on the battlefield, crystal clear.
In the depths of fear, its enemies quake,
Furret's victory, no one can take.
BASE STATS
LEVEL 100 STAT RANGE
HP:
85
280 - 374
Attack:
76
141 - 276
Defense:
64
119 - 249
Sp. Atk:
45
85 - 207
Sp. Def:
55
103 - 229
Speed:
90
166 - 306
Abilities
Run Away, Keen Eye, Frisk (Hidden Ability)
Notable Moves
Offensive - Body Slam, Brick Break, Double Edge, Facade, Fire Punch, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Knock Off, Last Resort, Play Rough, Quick Attack, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, Sucker Punch, Tera Blast, Thunder Punch, Trailblaze, U-Turn, Zen Headbutt Utility - Agility, Baton Pass, Chilling Water, Coil, Endeavor, Protect, Rest, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Super Fang, Tidy Up, Trick
Introduction
Furret's competitive history is... well, it doesn't have much of one. Furret is an early-game Pokemon that most people generally view as more of a cute Pokemon to be looked at and adored rather than to be used in any serious competitive battle. Even down in ZU it's considered a low viability threat alongside pre-evolved Pokemon like Gloom and Vullaby. So, given that this is the the single lowest viability Pokemon I've ever worked with, why did I bring it with me to OST and why is it my second favorite Pokemon in the OU tier behind Archaludon? It's simple, Furret gained access to a swathe of incredible new tools in a metagame that thrives on Pokemon that can use those tools. In addition, its workable speed hits critical benchmarks and it provides incredible role compression to teams that need to be able to identify and disrupt threats in a way that not a single other Pokemon in the OU metagame can do. With that out of the way, let's dive into why Furret has been a fixture on a number of my OU teams.
Disclaimer:Furret cannot be carelessly placed onto a team and be expected to function effectively; Furret thrives on team compositions where its disruptive utility tactics actively benefit its partners such as Pokemon like Great Tusk, and careful teambuilding is required. I highly recommend looking through the excellent SV OU Speed Tiers thread by Mada to see exactly what benchmarks your team has difficulty with, and how Furret can help your team flow better synergistically. If you prepare properly, Furret can disrupt and potentially take two to three Pokemon out of commission in a single match (sometimes more). I'd like to give a special thanks to 1LDKalkazothkd458Sp0oN1oRdNickos and Overshoc for helping me with team building, research, observations, and meta-analysis to bring Furret to life in OU.
Furret Competitive Summary This is a "too long, didn't read" for people who want a quick summary of Furret's positive traits in OU without reading the essay-length post
Furret occupies a heavy role compression niche in OU as a Pokemon that occupies roles of scouting, clearing hazards, utility pivot, and scarf disruptor into a single team slot thanks to its unique access to Frisk, Tidy Up, and Trick - a combination that no other Pokemon in the metagame gets, in addition to having some of the best utility moves in the game like Knock Off and U-Turn.
Furret's newfound access to Tidy Up means that not only can it clear hazards along with boosting both its attack and speed (even after Tricking Scarf away), but it is one of the few hazard-clearing mons that Gholdengo cannot block.
Frisk is a phenomenal ability that allows Furret to scout the opponent's moveset ahead of time by showing the item your opponent is using - this gives you an extra cushion and layer of security when making turn-by-turn decisions, especially against balance, hyper offense, and stall teams.
Furret is the second fastest Pokemon to have access to the Frisk + Trick combination and only lags behind Munkidori; Munkidori cannot clear hazards, has a Dark + Ghost weakness instead of neutrality and immunity respectively and does not have access to Knock Off like Furret.
Furret's base 90 speed, while being a little frustrating, allows it to reach critical benchmarks both with and without Choice Scarf. These benchmarks allow it to outpace some of the most problematic threats in the metagame like Specs Dragapult, Gholdengo, Great Tusk, Scarf Rillaboom, and more.
Furret's ability to decide the best time when to pivot out, clear hazards, knock an opponent's item off, or steal an opponent's item is unparalleled thanks to Frisk and further allows you to cripple problematic threats such as Heavy-Duty Boots Skeledirge, Swords Dance Iron Boulder, Nasty Plot Darkrai, and more.
Furret has great synergy with some of OU's most notable threats - in particular, Archaludon, Darkrai, Galarian Slowking, and Great Tusk have proven themselves to be Furret's most consistently reliable partners on multiple archetypes.
Furret's Normal-typing alongside newfound access to Terastallization in conjunction with Tera Fairy allows it a surprisingly usable defensive profile that can flip matchups in a pinch - such as anything from locking in Choice Specs Draco Meteors to surviving a Close Combat while having the benefit of a very handy natural Ghost immunity.
Utility Disruptor/Hazard Control/Pivot/Scout Multiple Role Compression
Set #1 - First Choice (Preferred)
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Due to Furret's stats, it doesn't have a lot of wiggle room in terms of EV allotment. The majority of this analysis will revolve around Set #1 as it has proven to be the more consistent of the two sets, but I wanted to include a little tidbit here about this second variant as well due to some of its surprisingly effective defensive capabilities. The main disadvantage to this set is that you lose out on the speed tie with neutral 252 Deoxys-Speed and some of the OHKOs and 2HKOs that Furret can get at +1 in exchange for some surprising defensive utility including the ability to live a super effective 40 Atk EV Life Orb Deoxys-Speed's Superpower and have a 75% chance to OHKO in return.
40 Atk Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Superpower vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 265-312 (83.5 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
100 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 0- Def Deoxys-Speed: 230-272 (95.4 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
The choice of whether you value more natural power on Furret's attacks and keeping that neutral Deoxys-Speed tie or whether you value the defensive utility is up to you. I recommend Set #1, but Set #2 has put in some work for me as well albeit to more inconsistent results.
252 Atk Choice Band Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 272-324 (85.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 259-306 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 232-274 (73.1 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Speed + Benchmark Analysis + Utility Explanation
With 252 EVs invested and a Jolly nature, Furret reaches a solid 306 speed. This specific speed tier is just enough to scurry past a sizeable chunk of OU's pervasive mid-speed offensive/bulky threats and some semi-speedier ones as well. Additionally, with Choice Scarf, Furret blitzes to 459 speed - which speed ties neutral-natured Deoxys-Speed. So let's look at some of the OU threats that Furret outpaces both with and without its Choice Scarf so we have an idea of where Furret has room to operate.
Furret - Jolly 252 EVs - 306 Speed
Positive Nature
(284 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (302 speed at 252 EVs) (293 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (300 speed at 252 EVs) (278 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (273 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 152 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(303 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (289 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (279 speed at 252 EVs, 219 speed at 12 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs)
Furret - Choice Scarf Jolly 252 EVs - 459 Speed
Positive Nature
(408 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (421 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (439 speed at +1 252 EVs) (450 speed at +1 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (364 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (357 speed at 252 EVs) (375 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (412 at 252 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(459 speed at 252 EVs) (436 speed at +2 0 EVs) (448 speed at +1 252 EVs)
Furret Functionality
So right, Furret hits all these benchmarks, what can it do with these benchmarks? I'm going to share a replay of the third Bo3 OST match against Ghoulish Champ (awesome matches btw dude, your switch game was fantastic and I really liked your teams!) to share a little bit of Furret's functionality with all of you, where Furret was the most effective member of my team alongside Specs Kyurem.
In this OST match, Furret tricked Choice Scarf onto Skeledirge, used Tidy Up to clear hazards, and then pivoted out of a predicted Gliscor switch. Later Furret was able to Trick away Rotom-Wash's Leftovers, and then Furret lived Rotom-Wash's Hydro Pump to clear hazards once again. In that one match - Furret cleared hazards twice, crippled bulky Dirge, removed Rotom-Wash's passive longevity and repeatedly scouted multiple sets. Furret put in more work than almost the entire rest of the team (including Zapdos, who was about as functional as a weightless paperweight) - what's even cooler about this whole scenario is that this is generally the bare minimum of what Furret pulls off in OU matches.
Another common scenario revolves around Furret's "item passing" as demonstrated here. Furret tricks Choice Scarf onto Glimmora locking it into Stealth Rock, the opponent switches out to Hatterene while I Tidy Up to clear the hazards + give Furret a +1 boost to its attack and speed. From there, I use Trick again to take Hatterene's Leftovers and take a Draining Kiss, gaining its now lost passive recovery - then I use Knock Off to get rid of that Focus Sash and tank a Psyshock (which would have had a damage-range chance to kill me if it were not for that newfound passive recovery). I then pivot out into Glowking on a predicted Draining Kiss and chip Hatterene down further. This is what Furret does - it fumbles multiple of your opponent's threats, clears hazards, scouts set variants, and opens up opportunities for you to switch and play the field. So that's fine and dandy, right? What else can Furret do? Let's take a look at another interaction with two setup sweepers - Volcarona and Kingambit.
Furret comes in after I kill Roaring Moon with Zapdos - my opponent brings in Volcarona and attempts to set up with Quiver Dance, so I trick Scarf onto them which results in them having to switch, I then Tidy Up to get a boost expecting a potential switch from a faster Pokemon but I'm instead met with Kingambit. In this situation, things could get dicey, so I decided to do another Trick in case of a Sucker Punch and steal Kingambit's Leftovers, crippling its longevity and ability to switch into my future hazards.
The same thing applies to Defensive/Stall cores as well in the lead meta. I lead with Furret and trick Choice Scarf onto Ting-Lu while my Furret comfortably tanks its STAB Earthquake, I then pivot out predicting a switch or another Earthquake (with it being a switch) and safely bring in Great Tusk, allowing me to immediately apply pressure to his Glowking.
This is why those previously listed speed benchmarks are so important and why Furret's base 90 speed is quite scary with Trick + Scarf. Furret outpaces almost everything unboosted while still outpacing some monstrous threats even without its Choice Scarf. You hold the ability to turn a Pokemon that was once a poor matchup for your team into fodder material or even a liability with the correct prediction. Furret's attack and damage output is scant, only reaching 376 after a +1 boost from Tidy Up - but that can be surprisingly handy in a pinch. Let's take a quick look at what Furret can do at +1 to some of OU's notable threats.
Damage Calculations
( Knock Off [+1] + U-Turn [+1] )
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 176-208 (62.6 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Defense: 114-136 (37.5 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 242-286 (100.4 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 282-332 (88.9 - 104.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 232-274 (73.6 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 196+ Def Gholdengo: 174-206 (46 - 54.4%) -- 53.1% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Boulder: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 32 HP / 0 Def Iron Crown: 222-262 (67.4 - 79.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 428-508 (146 - 173.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ogerpon-Wellspring: 186-220 (61.7 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 174-206 (51 - 60.4%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon: 214-252 (60.9 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Samurott-Hisui: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Serperior: 168-198 (57.7 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 262-310 (66.4 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 228-270 (81.1 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Defensive Profile + Terastallization + Teammates
Furret very clearly isn't winning any awards for its bulk - 85 HP is nice, but a full defensive profile of 85/64/55 is lacking, to say the least. That doesn't mean that Furret can't provide a defensive backbone to your team composition. Thanks to a natural Ghost-type immunity + the ability to Terastallize into Tera Fairy (far and away the preferred Tera-type for Furret based on testing) for a handy Dark/Fighting resistance + Dragon-immunity, Furret can survive some surprisingly powerful blows with no investment. It's thanks to this inherent matchup quality that Furret can contribute to its team's bulk synergy despite its meager defensive profile by capitalizing on two (with Tera) phenomenal immunities and predicted hits. Let's take a quick look at some defensive calculations, and then we'll look at teammates who bring out the best qualities of Furret and vice versa.
Pre-Terastallization (Normal Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 208-246 (66.8 - 79%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 238-280 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 274-324 (88.1 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Archaludon Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Corviknight Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 166-196 (53.3 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Dondozo Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 132-156 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
76 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 194-230 (62.3 - 73.9%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 197-232 (63.3 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 141-167 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Enamorus Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 256-303 (82.3 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tera Stellar Enamorus Tera Blast (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-254 (69.4 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 243-286 (78.1 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 265-313 (85.2 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Glimmora Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 82.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 0 Atk Gliscor Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 277-326 (89 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 283-334 (90.9 - 107.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 126-149 (40.5 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 130-154 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after trapping damage
252 Atk Iron Boulder Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Mighty Cleave vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Iron Crown Stored Power (60 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 247-292 (79.4 - 93.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 119-140 (38.2 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 261-307 (83.9 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 279-328 (89.7 - 105.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Kyurem Scale Shot (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 290-350 (93.2 - 112.5%) -- approx. 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret on a critical hit: 220-261 (70.7 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 204-240 (65.5 - 77.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protean Meowscarada Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 252-300 (81 - 96.4%) -- approx. 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 255-301 (81.9 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderclap vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 214-252 (68.8 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 198-234 (63.6 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 127-150 (40.8 - 48.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 92.6% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Future Sight vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Ting-Lu Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Torkoal Lava Plume vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret in Sun: 184-217 (59.1 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 178-211 (57.2 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
So Furret can survive some pretty gnarly moves (aka, more switch-in opportunities if you aren't able to facilitate a switch-in with something like Glowking) right? Now let's see some calculations against Furret once it terastallizes and gains the Fairy-type, as it pulls off some impressive feats including surviving a +2 Close Combat from Iron Boulder (and having a 93.7% chance to survive a +2 Tera Fighting Close Combat from Iron Boulder as well).
Terastallized (Fairy Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 52-61 (16.7 - 19.6%) -- guaranteed 6HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 59-70 (18.9 - 22.5%) -- possible 5HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 31.3% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 33.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 110-130 (35.3 - 41.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 107-126 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 117-138 (37.6 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 234-276 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 76-90 (24.4 - 28.9%) -- 99.7% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 89-105 (28.6 - 33.7%) -- 0.3% chance to 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 177-209 (56.9 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Tera Fighting Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 266-313 (85.5 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 141-166 (45.3 - 53.3%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 282-332 (90.6 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 102-120 (32.7 - 38.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 93-109 (29.9 - 35%) -- 19.2% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Samurott-Hisui Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 100-118 (32.1 - 37.9%) -- 95.4% chance to 3HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 68-81 (21.8 - 26%) -- 4.9% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 114-134 (36.6 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
+3 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 189-222 (60.7 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+4 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 226-267 (72.6 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Furret, despite being so frail, can survive powerful hits in a pinch if it needs to. Combine this unexpected ability to take hits with the defensive utility of both Normal and Fairy-type's immunities to Dragon/Ghost and the newfound resistance to Dark and Fighting-types (the latter of which Furret can bait quite easily), and you've got a comparatively frail Pokemon with some underestimated and unexpectedly potent defensive utility.
Teammates
Glowking has proven to be far and a way the best teammate choice in OU for Furret thanks to Regenerator, fantastic bulk, and Future Sight + Chilly Reception pairing well with Furret's ability to cripple threats. The two keep the momentum going with a combination of fast and slow pivots that allow you to completely control the flow of battle at your own pace. Frisk combines fantastically with the natural scouting of Glowking's glacially slow pivots so you'll likely have a much easier time uncovering your opponent's team loop + set variants with these two.
Great Tusk has far and away proven to be Furret's second most consistent OU teammate. Not only do the two of them pair well for double hazard control, but the two most common priority moves in OU (Sucker Punch and Thunderclap) are resisted/immune respectively by Great Tusk courtesy of its fantastic Ground/Fighting defensive typing. Do I need to say more? It's Great Tusk, he's a beast.
Zamazenta's excellent bulk, speed, power, and defensive utility are fantastic - it heavily appreciates Furret's ability to lock opponents into a single move, giving it opportunities to fire off powerful banded strikes or to set up with Iron Defense or get behind a Substitute. Providing opportunities to avoid being status'd is something that Zamazenta appreciates more than most other OU Pokemon due to its critically vital speed tier.
I've found that Dragapult (Choice Specs in particular) has way more opportunities to come in thanks to the opponent's propensity to fire off Fighting-type moves at Furret, allowing you to somewhat look past Dragapult's decidedly sketchy bulk and launch powerful Draco Meteors or Shadow Balls in your opponent's direction.
If your opponent can take down your Furret after being tricked, having a Pokemon with Unaware to cushion a boosted blow and capitalize on whichever move the opponent's mon is locked into is a blessing. Skeledirge ironically enough makes a great partner for Furret thanks to its synergistic typing and natural Fighting-type immunity. Clefable and Clodsire both resist Fighting-type moves as well, while Dondozo in general is just a great Unaware mon with the ability to fit on a wide variety of teams.
Conclusion
Furret is adorable, and he deserves a break from the escalator (he's been building up those muscles for years). For real though, I was honestly shocked at how much work Furret was putting into so many games in OU - I'm generally an advocate for finding a small niche for almost any Pokemon, but I didn't expect Furret's niche to function this well. The more I played with Furret, the more I realized that its unique utility and newfound surroundings have been an absolute blessing for it. I'm going to continue using Furret in the OU tier, and I hope you consider giving him a try as well. Thank you for reading.
"Despite its short limbs, Furret is very quick and agile. This allows Furret to escape even when in the arms of a human."
- Bulbapedia
"Furret deserves more than just a mere quote, so I brought it to OST and made an OU theme song representative of Furret's destructive ferocity."
- Morkal
Abilities
Run Away, Keen Eye, Frisk (Hidden Ability)
Notable Moves
Offensive - Body Slam, Brick Break, Double Edge, Facade, Fire Punch, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Knock Off, Last Resort, Play Rough, Quick Attack, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, Sucker Punch, Tera Blast, Thunder Punch, Trailblaze, U-Turn, Zen Headbutt Utility - Agility, Baton Pass, Chilling Water, Coil, Endeavor, Protect, Rest, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Super Fang, Tidy Up, Trick
Introduction View attachment 596580
Furret's competitive history is... well, it doesn't have much of one. Furret is an early-game Pokemon that most people generally view as more of a cute Pokemon to be looked at and adored rather than to be used in any serious competitive battle. Even down in ZU it's considered a low viability threat alongside pre-evolved Pokemon like Gloom and Vullaby. So, given that this is the the single lowest viability Pokemon I've ever worked with, why did I bring it with me to OST and why is it my second favorite Pokemon in the OU tier behind Archaludon? It's simple, Furret gained access to a swathe of incredible new tools in a metagame that thrives on Pokemon that can use those tools. In addition, its workable speed hits critical benchmarks and it provides incredible role compression to teams that need to be able to identify and disrupt threats in a way that not a single other Pokemon in the OU metagame can do. With that out of the way, let's dive into why Furret has been a fixture on a number of my OU teams.
Disclaimer:Furret cannot be carelessly placed onto a team and be expected to function effectively; Furret thrives on team compositions where its disruptive utility tactics actively benefit its partners such as Pokemon like Great Tusk, and careful teambuilding is required. I highly recommend looking through the excellent SV OU Speed Tiers thread by Mada to see exactly what benchmarks your team has difficulty with, and how Furret can help your team flow better synergistically. If you prepare properly, Furret can disrupt and potentially take two to three Pokemon out of commission in a single match (sometimes more). I'd like to give a special thanks to 1LDKalkazothkd458Sp0oN1oRdNickos and Overshoc for helping me with team building, research, observations, and meta-analysis to bring Furret to life in OU.
View attachment 596593 Furret Competitive Summary This is a "too long, didn't read" for people who want a quick summary of Furret's positive traits in OU without reading the essay-length post
Furret occupies a heavy role compression niche in OU as a Pokemon that occupies roles of scouting, clearing hazards, utility pivot, and scarf disruptor into a single team slot thanks to its unique access to Frisk, Tidy Up, and Trick - a combination that no other Pokemon in the metagame gets, in addition to having some of the best utility moves in the game like Knock Off and U-Turn.
Furret's newfound access to Tidy Up means that not only can it clear hazards along with boosting both its attack and speed (even after Tricking Scarf away), but it is one of the few hazard-clearing mons that Gholdengo cannot block.
Frisk is a phenomenal ability that allows Furret to scout the opponent's moveset ahead of time by showing the item your opponent is using - this gives you an extra cushion and layer of security when making turn-by-turn decisions, especially against balance, hyper offense, and stall teams.
Furret is the second fastest Pokemon to have access to the Frisk + Trick combination and only lags behind Munkidori; Munkidori cannot clear hazards, has a Dark + Ghost weakness instead of neutrality and immunity respectively and does not have access to Knock Off like Furret.
Furret's base 90 speed, while being a little frustrating, allows it to reach critical benchmarks both with and without Choice Scarf. These benchmarks allow it to outpace some of the most problematic threats in the metagame like Specs Dragapult, Gholdengo, Great Tusk, Scarf Rillaboom, and more.
Furret's ability to decide the best time when to pivot out, clear hazards, knock an opponent's item off, or steal an opponent's item is unparalleled thanks to Frisk and further allows you to cripple problematic threats such as Heavy-Duty Boots Skeledirge, Swords Dance Iron Boulder, Nasty Plot Darkrai, and more.
Furret has great synergy with some of OU's most notable threats - in particular, Archaludon, Darkrai, Galarian Slowking, and Great Tusk have proven themselves to be Furret's most consistently reliable partners on multiple archetypes.
Furret's Normal-typing alongside newfound access to Terastallization in conjunction with Tera Fairy allows it a surprisingly usable defensive profile that can flip matchups in a pinch - such as anything from locking in Choice Specs Draco Meteors to surviving a Close Combat while having the benefit of a very handy natural Ghost immunity.
Utility Disruptor/Hazard Control/Pivot/Scout Multiple Role Compression
Set #1 - First Choice (Preferred) View attachment 596617
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Set #2 - Second Choice (EV Tech, Niche) View attachment 596658
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 24 HP / 100 Atk / 144 Def / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Due to Furret's stats, it doesn't have a lot of wiggle room in terms of EV allotment. The majority of this analysis will revolve around Set #1 as it has proven to be the more consistent of the two sets, but I wanted to include a little tidbit here about this second variant as well due to some of its surprisingly effective defensive capabilities. The main disadvantage to this set is that you lose out on the speed tie with neutral 252 Deoxys-Speed and some of the OHKOs and 2HKOs that Furret can get at +1 in exchange for some surprising defensive utility including the ability to live a super effective 40 Atk EV Life Orb Deoxys-Speed's Superpower and have a 75% chance to OHKO in return.
40 Atk Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Superpower vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 265-312 (83.5 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
100 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 0- Def Deoxys-Speed: 230-272 (95.4 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
The choice of whether you value more natural power on Furret's attacks and keeping that neutral Deoxys-Speed tie or whether you value the defensive utility is up to you. I recommend Set #1, but Set #2 has put in some work for me as well albeit to more inconsistent results.
252 Atk Choice Band Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 272-324 (85.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 259-306 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 232-274 (73.1 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With 252 EVs invested and a Jolly nature, Furret reaches a solid 306 speed. This specific speed tier is just enough to scurry past a sizeable chunk of OU's pervasive mid-speed offensive/bulky threats and some semi-speedier ones as well. Additionally, with Choice Scarf, Furret blitzes to 459 speed - which speed ties neutral-natured Deoxys-Speed. So let's look at some of the OU threats that Furret outpaces both with and without its Choice Scarf so we have an idea of where Furret has room to operate.
Furret - Jolly 252 EVs - 306 Speed
Positive Nature
(284 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (302 speed at 252 EVs) (293 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (300 speed at 252 EVs) (278 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (273 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 152 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(303 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (289 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (279 speed at 252 EVs, 219 speed at 12 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs)
Furret - Choice Scarf Jolly 252 EVs - 459 Speed
Positive Nature
(408 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (421 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (439 speed at +1 252 EVs) (450 speed at +1 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (364 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (357 speed at 252 EVs) (375 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (412 at 252 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(459 speed at 252 EVs) (436 speed at +2 0 EVs) (448 speed at +1 252 EVs)
Furret Functionality View attachment 596640
So right, Furret hits all these benchmarks, what can it do with these benchmarks? I'm going to share a replay of the third Bo3 OST match against Ghoulish Champ (awesome matches btw dude, your switch game was fantastic and I really liked your teams!) to share a little bit of Furret's functionality with all of you, where Furret was the most effective member of my team alongside Specs Kyurem.
In this OST match, Furret tricked Choice Scarf onto Skeledirge, used Tidy Up to clear hazards, and then pivoted out of a predicted Gliscor switch. Later Furret was able to Trick away Rotom-Wash's Leftovers, and then Furret lived Rotom-Wash's Hydro Pump to clear hazards once again. In that one match - Furret cleared hazards twice, crippled bulky Dirge, removed Rotom-Wash's passive longevity and repeatedly scouted multiple sets. Furret put in more work than almost the entire rest of the team (including Zapdos, who was about as functional as a weightless paperweight) - what's even cooler about this whole scenario is that this is generally the bare minimum of what Furret pulls off in OU matches.
Another common scenario revolves around Furret's "item passing" as demonstrated here. Furret tricks Choice Scarf onto Glimmora locking it into Stealth Rock, the opponent switches out to Hatterene while I Tidy Up to clear the hazards + give Furret a +1 boost to its attack and speed. From there, I use Trick again to take Hatterene's Leftovers and take a Draining Kiss, gaining its now lost passive recovery - then I use Knock Off to get rid of that Focus Sash and tank a Psyshock (which would have had a damage-range chance to kill me if it were not for that newfound passive recovery). I then pivot out into Glowking on a predicted Draining Kiss and chip Hatterene down further. This is what Furret does - it fumbles multiple of your opponent's threats, clears hazards, scouts set variants, and opens up opportunities for you to switch and play the field. So that's fine and dandy, right? What else can Furret do? Let's take a look at another interaction with two setup sweepers - Volcarona and Kingambit.
Furret comes in after I kill Roaring Moon with Zapdos - my opponent brings in Volcarona and attempts to set up with Quiver Dance, so I trick Scarf onto them which results in them having to switch, I then Tidy Up to get a boost expecting a potential switch from a faster Pokemon but I'm instead met with Kingambit. In this situation, things could get dicey, so I decided to do another Trick in case of a Sucker Punch and steal Kingambit's Leftovers, crippling its longevity and ability to switch into my future hazards.
The same thing applies to Defensive/Stall cores as well in the lead meta. I lead with Furret and trick Choice Scarf onto Ting-Lu while my Furret comfortably tanks its STAB Earthquake, I then pivot out predicting a switch or another Earthquake (with it being a switch) and safely bring in Great Tusk, allowing me to immediately apply pressure to his Glowking.
This is why those previously listed speed benchmarks are so important and why Furret's base 90 speed is quite scary with Trick + Scarf. Furret outpaces almost everything unboosted while still outpacing some monstrous threats even without its Choice Scarf. You hold the ability to turn a Pokemon that was once a poor matchup for your team into fodder material or even a liability with the correct prediction. Furret's attack and damage output is scant, only reaching 376 after a +1 boost from Tidy Up - but that can be surprisingly handy in a pinch. Let's take a quick look at what Furret can do at +1 to some of OU's notable threats.
Damage Calculations
( Knock Off [+1] + U-Turn [+1] )
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 176-208 (62.6 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Defense: 114-136 (37.5 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 242-286 (100.4 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 282-332 (88.9 - 104.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 232-274 (73.6 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 196+ Def Gholdengo: 174-206 (46 - 54.4%) -- 53.1% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Boulder: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 32 HP / 0 Def Iron Crown: 222-262 (67.4 - 79.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 428-508 (146 - 173.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ogerpon-Wellspring: 186-220 (61.7 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 174-206 (51 - 60.4%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon: 214-252 (60.9 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Samurott-Hisui: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Serperior: 168-198 (57.7 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 262-310 (66.4 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 228-270 (81.1 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Defensive Profile + Terastallization + Teammates View attachment 596660
Furret very clearly isn't winning any awards for its bulk - 85 HP is nice, but a full defensive profile of 85/64/55 is lacking, to say the least. That doesn't mean that Furret can't provide a defensive backbone to your team composition. Thanks to a natural Ghost-type immunity + the ability to Terastallize into Tera Fairy (far and away the preferred Tera-type for Furret based on testing) for a handy Dark/Fighting resistance + Dragon-immunity, Furret can survive some surprisingly powerful blows with no investment. It's thanks to this inherent matchup quality that Furret can contribute to its team's bulk synergy despite its meager defensive profile by capitalizing on two (with Tera) phenomenal immunities and predicted hits. Let's take a quick look at some defensive calculations, and then we'll look at teammates who bring out the best qualities of Furret and vice versa.
Pre-Terastallization (Normal Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 208-246 (66.8 - 79%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 238-280 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 274-324 (88.1 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Archaludon Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Corviknight Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 166-196 (53.3 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Dondozo Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 132-156 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
76 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 194-230 (62.3 - 73.9%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 197-232 (63.3 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 141-167 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Enamorus Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 256-303 (82.3 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tera Stellar Enamorus Tera Blast (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-254 (69.4 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 243-286 (78.1 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 265-313 (85.2 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Glimmora Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 82.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 0 Atk Gliscor Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 277-326 (89 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 283-334 (90.9 - 107.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 126-149 (40.5 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 130-154 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after trapping damage
252 Atk Iron Boulder Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Mighty Cleave vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Iron Crown Stored Power (60 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 247-292 (79.4 - 93.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 119-140 (38.2 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 261-307 (83.9 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 279-328 (89.7 - 105.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Kyurem Scale Shot (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 290-350 (93.2 - 112.5%) -- approx. 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret on a critical hit: 220-261 (70.7 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 204-240 (65.5 - 77.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protean Meowscarada Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 252-300 (81 - 96.4%) -- approx. 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 255-301 (81.9 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderclap vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 214-252 (68.8 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 198-234 (63.6 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 127-150 (40.8 - 48.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 92.6% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Future Sight vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Ting-Lu Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Torkoal Lava Plume vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret in Sun: 184-217 (59.1 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 178-211 (57.2 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
So Furret can survive some pretty gnarly moves (aka, more switch-in opportunities if you aren't able to facilitate a switch-in with something like Glowking) right? Now let's see some calculations against Furret once it terastallizes and gains the Fairy-type, as it pulls off some impressive feats including surviving a +2 Close Combat from Iron Boulder (and having a 93.7% chance to survive a +2 Tera Fighting Close Combat from Iron Boulder as well).
Terastallized (Fairy Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 52-61 (16.7 - 19.6%) -- guaranteed 6HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 59-70 (18.9 - 22.5%) -- possible 5HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 31.3% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 33.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 110-130 (35.3 - 41.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 107-126 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 117-138 (37.6 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 234-276 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 76-90 (24.4 - 28.9%) -- 99.7% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 89-105 (28.6 - 33.7%) -- 0.3% chance to 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 177-209 (56.9 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Tera Fighting Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 266-313 (85.5 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 141-166 (45.3 - 53.3%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 282-332 (90.6 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 102-120 (32.7 - 38.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 93-109 (29.9 - 35%) -- 19.2% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Samurott-Hisui Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 100-118 (32.1 - 37.9%) -- 95.4% chance to 3HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 68-81 (21.8 - 26%) -- 4.9% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 114-134 (36.6 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
+3 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 189-222 (60.7 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+4 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 226-267 (72.6 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Furret, despite being so frail, can survive powerful hits in a pinch if it needs to. Combine this unexpected ability to take hits with the defensive utility of both Normal and Fairy-type's immunities to Dragon/Ghost and the newfound resistance to Dark and Fighting-types (the latter of which Furret can bait quite easily), and you've got a comparatively frail Pokemon with some underestimated and unexpectedly potent defensive utility.
Teammates
Glowking has proven to be far and a way the best teammate choice in OU for Furret thanks to Regenerator, fantastic bulk, and Future Sight + Chilly Reception pairing well with Furret's ability to cripple threats. The two keep the momentum going with a combination of fast and slow pivots that allow you to completely control the flow of battle at your own pace. Frisk combines fantastically with the natural scouting of Glowking's glacially slow pivots so you'll likely have a much easier time uncovering your opponent's team loop + set variants with these two.
Great Tusk has far and away proven to be Furret's second most consistent OU teammate. Not only do the two of them pair well for double hazard control, but the two most common priority moves in OU (Sucker Punch and Thunderclap) are resisted/immune respectively by Great Tusk courtesy of its fantastic Ground/Fighting defensive typing. Do I need to say more? It's Great Tusk, he's a beast.
Zamazenta's excellent bulk, speed, power, and defensive utility are fantastic - it heavily appreciates Furret's ability to lock opponents into a single move, giving it opportunities to fire off powerful banded strikes or to set up with Iron Defense or get behind a Substitute. Providing opportunities to avoid being status'd is something that Zamazenta appreciates more than most other OU Pokemon due to its critically vital speed tier.
I've found that Dragapult (Choice Specs in particular) has way more opportunities to come in thanks to the opponent's propensity to fire off Fighting-type moves at Furret, allowing you to somewhat look past Dragapult's decidedly sketchy bulk and launch powerful Draco Meteors or Shadow Balls in your opponent's direction.
:clodsire
If your opponent can take down your Furret after being tricked, having a Pokemon with unaware to cushion a boosted blow and capitalize on whichever move the opponent's mon is locked into is a blessing. Skeledirge ironically enough makes a great partner for Furret thanks to its synergistic typing and natural Fighting-type immunity. Clefable and Clodsire both resist Fighting-type moves as well, while Dondozo in general is just a great Unaware mon with the ability to fit on a wide variety of teams.
Furret is adorable, and he deserves a break from the escalator (he's been building up those muscles for years). For real though, I was honestly shocked at how much work Furret was putting into so many games in OU - I'm generally an advocate for finding a small niche for almost any Pokemon, but I didn't expect Furret's niche to function this well. The more I played with Furret, the more I realized that its unique utility and newfound surroundings have been an absolute blessing for it. I'm going to continue using Furret in the OU tier, and I hope you consider giving him a try as well. Thank you for reading.
valiant with boost move, hypnosis and hex was basically comparable to Pokémon’s with a STAB flinch move.
why is that? With a 40% chance of getting 1+ turns of sleep, valiant could effectively “flinch” past a check, 40% of the time.
If valiant misses, 40% of the time, it is punishable
If valiant gets 1 turn of sleep, 20% of the time, it is net inconsequential (and thus a waste of a move slot)
If valiant gets 2 turns of sleep, 20% of the time, it got an effective “flinch” verse it’s opponent
If valiant gets 3 turns of sleep, 20% of the time, it got an effective “double flinch” verse its opponent
unlike other common “flinch hax” fishers, such as iron head excadrill. Valiant doesn’t get to compress STAB and this “flinch hax” in one move. It has to dedicate a move.
also, it opens itself up to a completely wasted moveslot in other cases, making it more of a casino dice roll than a clearly OP threat.
Comparing sleep to flinch is oversimplifying, but it’s very similar. If a strong threat was over the edge with strong flinches, in the past, that strong threat was banned.
Valiant got special treatment because an old sleep clause was repealed.
Inaccurate; cummulative chance only makes sense when looking at a complex situation as a whole; as its eventualities progress, actual chance varies accordingly.
40% chance to get 1 or 2 turns is only accurate if measured before clicking Hypnosis and assuming that the person in the receiving end of the hypnosis doesn't switch out. An opponent switching out effectively gives the enabler the same result as a 2-turn sleep, while still leaving the opponent a mon in the back that "may or may not" be available to move later on, all to avoid the disaster of a 3-turn sleep.
Once Hypnosis has hit and you have a slept mon that spent 1 turn sleeping, the chance that you can move right away drops to a 33%, which is why switching out is technically the better idea, maths-wise.
Outside of pure maths, the fact that you don't know if it's a 1-turn sleep without commiting is a problem in and of itself. Switching out on a 1-turn sleep is something that cannot be calculated on pure maths as it involved a player decision, but while it's the best choice mathematically, it turns sleep into an almost ensured free turn at minimum, with potential extras.
Another thing is the difference between a "30% chance to flinch if you're faster and choose one specific move each turn" with Iron Head, and a "40% chance to do anything for free, 20% chance to do it twice" with Hypno, which is actually "67% chance to do anything for free, 33% to do it twice" after the opponent is confirmed asleep. The comparison is mathematically faulty, even beyond simplification.
Note that I have no intention to discuss sleep, its ban nor its abusers specifically; just probability and its management.
Inaccurate; cummulative chance only makes sense when looking at a complex situation as a whole; as its eventualities progress, actual chance varies accordingly.
40% chance to get 1 or 2 turns is only accurate if measured before clicking Hypnosis and assuming that the person in the receiving end of the hypnosis doesn't switch out. An opponent switching out effectively gives the enabler the same result as a 2-turn sleep, while still leaving the opponent a mon in the back that "may or may not" be available to move later on, all to avoid the disaster of a 3-turn sleep.
Once Hypnosis has hit and you have a slept mon that spent 1 turn sleeping, the chance that you can move right away drops to a 33%, which is why switching out is technically the better idea, maths-wise.
Outside of pure maths, the fact that you don't know if it's a 1-turn sleep without commiting is a problem in and of itself. Switching out on a 1-turn sleep is something that cannot be calculated on pure maths as it involved a player decision, but while it's the best choice mathematically, it turns sleep into an almost ensured free turn at minimum, with potential extras.
Another thing is the difference between a "30% chance to flinch if you're faster and choose one specific move each turn" with Iron Head, and a "40% chance to do anything for free, 20% chance to do it twice" with Hypno, which is actually "67% chance to do anything for free, 33% to do it twice" after the opponent is confirmed asleep. The comparison is mathematically faulty, even beyond simplification.
Note that I have no intention to discuss sleep, its ban nor its abusers specifically; just probability and its management.
it’s an oversimplification, but for the purposes of “beating checks” it’s very similar. Obviously I didn’t imply they’re identical scenarios.
Regards to switching, switching is always a “free turn” regardless of sleep or otherwise. A switch on an SD is also a “free turn”.
Excadrill can beat a Gliscor check with sufficient damage and a flinch.
valiant can beat a glowking check with sufficient damage and enough “sleep”.
of course there’s pros and cons of both, when it’s not simplified, such as:
Using a sleep move reduces slots for boosting or damaging to 3 slots
Using a sleep move might completely fail, making 0 progress
Using a sleep move might get “overkill” turns, I.e. you might not need the 3rd turn
Using a sleep move foregoes the use of damage on that turn
Then on the positives side
A sleeping pokemon might switch out, and keep the chance to be sleeping later
You can boost the power of hex (valiant)
you can get bad dreams damage (darkrai)
Valiant was a casino due to 2 slot coverage being adequate
darkrai was a casino due to sleep also adding the bad dreams damage on the bulkiest of checks, and adequate coverage/power for everything else
both Pokémon’s essentially had a 40% chance of beating their checks. This is comparable with Cloyster.
it looks like a 40% chance to best checks is the uncompetitive OUBL threshold for these casino superstars.
in a similar way to the Cloyster comparison, these Pokémon’s caused sleep clauses to be replaced. Apparently 2 Pokémon’s being busted in a sleep clause meta was what sparked the whole debate about the long standing policy.
the difference is kings rock had neglible value.
sleep causing moves did have legitimate value in a sleep clause meta.
but whether or not it’s up for debate doesn’t really matter any more. It’s already decided
"Despite its short limbs, Furret is very quick and agile. This allows Furret to escape even when in the arms of a human."
- Bulbapedia
"Furret deserves more than just a mere quote, so I brought it to OST and made an OU theme song representative of
Furret's destructive ferocity."
- Morkal
In the realm of battle, the creatures clash,
Furret rises from the ashes with a vicious gnash.
With its quick feet and sharp claws,
It strikes fear into the hearts of all.
With every move, Furret's domination grows,
Overwhelming Kingambit and Darkrai's darkest blows.
Furret scurries, swift like the wind,
Leaving its opponents trembling from within.
Furret's reign, unstoppable and fierce,
Its power on the battlefield, crystal clear.
In the depths of fear, its enemies quake,
Furret's victory, no one can take.
Abilities
Run Away, Keen Eye, Frisk (Hidden Ability)
Notable Moves
Offensive - Body Slam, Brick Break, Double Edge, Facade, Fire Punch, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Knock Off, Last Resort, Play Rough, Quick Attack, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, Sucker Punch, Tera Blast, Thunder Punch, Trailblaze, U-Turn, Zen Headbutt Utility - Agility, Baton Pass, Chilling Water, Coil, Endeavor, Protect, Rest, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Super Fang, Tidy Up, Trick
Introduction View attachment 596580
Furret's competitive history is... well, it doesn't have much of one. Furret is an early-game Pokemon that most people generally view as more of a cute Pokemon to be looked at and adored rather than to be used in any serious competitive battle. Even down in ZU it's considered a low viability threat alongside pre-evolved Pokemon like Gloom and Vullaby. So, given that this is the the single lowest viability Pokemon I've ever worked with, why did I bring it with me to OST and why is it my second favorite Pokemon in the OU tier behind Archaludon? It's simple, Furret gained access to a swathe of incredible new tools in a metagame that thrives on Pokemon that can use those tools. In addition, its workable speed hits critical benchmarks and it provides incredible role compression to teams that need to be able to identify and disrupt threats in a way that not a single other Pokemon in the OU metagame can do. With that out of the way, let's dive into why Furret has been a fixture on a number of my OU teams.
Disclaimer:Furret cannot be carelessly placed onto a team and be expected to function effectively; Furret thrives on team compositions where its disruptive utility tactics actively benefit its partners such as Pokemon like Great Tusk, and careful teambuilding is required. I highly recommend looking through the excellent SV OU Speed Tiers thread by Mada to see exactly what benchmarks your team has difficulty with, and how Furret can help your team flow better synergistically. If you prepare properly, Furret can disrupt and potentially take two to three Pokemon out of commission in a single match (sometimes more). I'd like to give a special thanks to 1LDKalkazothkd458Sp0oN1oRdNickos and Overshoc for helping me with team building, research, observations, and meta-analysis to bring Furret to life in OU.
View attachment 596593 Furret Competitive Summary This is a "too long, didn't read" for people who want a quick summary of Furret's positive traits in OU without reading the essay-length post
Furret occupies a heavy role compression niche in OU as a Pokemon that occupies roles of scouting, clearing hazards, utility pivot, and scarf disruptor into a single team slot thanks to its unique access to Frisk, Tidy Up, and Trick - a combination that no other Pokemon in the metagame gets, in addition to having some of the best utility moves in the game like Knock Off and U-Turn.
Furret's newfound access to Tidy Up means that not only can it clear hazards along with boosting both its attack and speed (even after Tricking Scarf away), but it is one of the few hazard-clearing mons that Gholdengo cannot block.
Frisk is a phenomenal ability that allows Furret to scout the opponent's moveset ahead of time by showing the item your opponent is using - this gives you an extra cushion and layer of security when making turn-by-turn decisions, especially against balance, hyper offense, and stall teams.
Furret is the second fastest Pokemon to have access to the Frisk + Trick combination and only lags behind Munkidori; Munkidori cannot clear hazards, has a Dark + Ghost weakness instead of neutrality and immunity respectively and does not have access to Knock Off like Furret.
Furret's base 90 speed, while being a little frustrating, allows it to reach critical benchmarks both with and without Choice Scarf. These benchmarks allow it to outpace some of the most problematic threats in the metagame like Specs Dragapult, Gholdengo, Great Tusk, Scarf Rillaboom, and more.
Furret's ability to decide the best time when to pivot out, clear hazards, knock an opponent's item off, or steal an opponent's item is unparalleled thanks to Frisk and further allows you to cripple problematic threats such as Heavy-Duty Boots Skeledirge, Swords Dance Iron Boulder, Nasty Plot Darkrai, and more.
Furret has great synergy with some of OU's most notable threats - in particular, Archaludon, Darkrai, Galarian Slowking, and Great Tusk have proven themselves to be Furret's most consistently reliable partners on multiple archetypes.
Furret's Normal-typing alongside newfound access to Terastallization in conjunction with Tera Fairy allows it a surprisingly usable defensive profile that can flip matchups in a pinch - such as anything from locking in Choice Specs Draco Meteors to surviving a Close Combat while having the benefit of a very handy natural Ghost immunity.
Utility Disruptor/Hazard Control/Pivot/Scout Multiple Role Compression
Set #1 - First Choice (Preferred) View attachment 596617
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Set #2 - Second Choice (EV Tech, Niche) View attachment 596658
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 24 HP / 100 Atk / 144 Def / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Due to Furret's stats, it doesn't have a lot of wiggle room in terms of EV allotment. The majority of this analysis will revolve around Set #1 as it has proven to be the more consistent of the two sets, but I wanted to include a little tidbit here about this second variant as well due to some of its surprisingly effective defensive capabilities. The main disadvantage to this set is that you lose out on the speed tie with neutral 252 Deoxys-Speed and some of the OHKOs and 2HKOs that Furret can get at +1 in exchange for some surprising defensive utility including the ability to live a super effective 40 Atk EV Life Orb Deoxys-Speed's Superpower and have a 75% chance to OHKO in return.
40 Atk Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Superpower vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 265-312 (83.5 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
100 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 0- Def Deoxys-Speed: 230-272 (95.4 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
The choice of whether you value more natural power on Furret's attacks and keeping that neutral Deoxys-Speed tie or whether you value the defensive utility is up to you. I recommend Set #1, but Set #2 has put in some work for me as well albeit to more inconsistent results.
252 Atk Choice Band Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 272-324 (85.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 259-306 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 232-274 (73.1 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With 252 EVs invested and a Jolly nature, Furret reaches a solid 306 speed. This specific speed tier is just enough to scurry past a sizeable chunk of OU's pervasive mid-speed offensive/bulky threats and some semi-speedier ones as well. Additionally, with Choice Scarf, Furret blitzes to 459 speed - which speed ties neutral-natured Deoxys-Speed. So let's look at some of the OU threats that Furret outpaces both with and without its Choice Scarf so we have an idea of where Furret has room to operate.
Furret - Jolly 252 EVs - 306 Speed
Positive Nature
(284 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (302 speed at 252 EVs) (293 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (300 speed at 252 EVs) (278 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (273 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 152 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(303 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (289 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (279 speed at 252 EVs, 219 speed at 12 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs)
Furret - Choice Scarf Jolly 252 EVs - 459 Speed
Positive Nature
(408 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (421 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (439 speed at +1 252 EVs) (450 speed at +1 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (364 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (357 speed at 252 EVs) (375 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (412 at 252 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(459 speed at 252 EVs) (436 speed at +2 0 EVs) (448 speed at +1 252 EVs)
Furret Functionality View attachment 596640
So right, Furret hits all these benchmarks, what can it do with these benchmarks? I'm going to share a replay of the third Bo3 OST match against Ghoulish Champ (awesome matches btw dude, your switch game was fantastic and I really liked your teams!) to share a little bit of Furret's functionality with all of you, where Furret was the most effective member of my team alongside Specs Kyurem.
In this OST match, Furret tricked Choice Scarf onto Skeledirge, used Tidy Up to clear hazards, and then pivoted out of a predicted Gliscor switch. Later Furret was able to Trick away Rotom-Wash's Leftovers, and then Furret lived Rotom-Wash's Hydro Pump to clear hazards once again. In that one match - Furret cleared hazards twice, crippled bulky Dirge, removed Rotom-Wash's passive longevity and repeatedly scouted multiple sets. Furret put in more work than almost the entire rest of the team (including Zapdos, who was about as functional as a weightless paperweight) - what's even cooler about this whole scenario is that this is generally the bare minimum of what Furret pulls off in OU matches.
Another common scenario revolves around Furret's "item passing" as demonstrated here. Furret tricks Choice Scarf onto Glimmora locking it into Stealth Rock, the opponent switches out to Hatterene while I Tidy Up to clear the hazards + give Furret a +1 boost to its attack and speed. From there, I use Trick again to take Hatterene's Leftovers and take a Draining Kiss, gaining its now lost passive recovery - then I use Knock Off to get rid of that Focus Sash and tank a Psyshock (which would have had a damage-range chance to kill me if it were not for that newfound passive recovery). I then pivot out into Glowking on a predicted Draining Kiss and chip Hatterene down further. This is what Furret does - it fumbles multiple of your opponent's threats, clears hazards, scouts set variants, and opens up opportunities for you to switch and play the field. So that's fine and dandy, right? What else can Furret do? Let's take a look at another interaction with two setup sweepers - Volcarona and Kingambit.
Furret comes in after I kill Roaring Moon with Zapdos - my opponent brings in Volcarona and attempts to set up with Quiver Dance, so I trick Scarf onto them which results in them having to switch, I then Tidy Up to get a boost expecting a potential switch from a faster Pokemon but I'm instead met with Kingambit. In this situation, things could get dicey, so I decided to do another Trick in case of a Sucker Punch and steal Kingambit's Leftovers, crippling its longevity and ability to switch into my future hazards.
The same thing applies to Defensive/Stall cores as well in the lead meta. I lead with Furret and trick Choice Scarf onto Ting-Lu while my Furret comfortably tanks its STAB Earthquake, I then pivot out predicting a switch or another Earthquake (with it being a switch) and safely bring in Great Tusk, allowing me to immediately apply pressure to his Glowking.
This is why those previously listed speed benchmarks are so important and why Furret's base 90 speed is quite scary with Trick + Scarf. Furret outpaces almost everything unboosted while still outpacing some monstrous threats even without its Choice Scarf. You hold the ability to turn a Pokemon that was once a poor matchup for your team into fodder material or even a liability with the correct prediction. Furret's attack and damage output is scant, only reaching 376 after a +1 boost from Tidy Up - but that can be surprisingly handy in a pinch. Let's take a quick look at what Furret can do at +1 to some of OU's notable threats.
Damage Calculations
( Knock Off [+1] + U-Turn [+1] )
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 176-208 (62.6 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Defense: 114-136 (37.5 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 242-286 (100.4 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 282-332 (88.9 - 104.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 232-274 (73.6 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 196+ Def Gholdengo: 174-206 (46 - 54.4%) -- 53.1% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Boulder: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 32 HP / 0 Def Iron Crown: 222-262 (67.4 - 79.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 428-508 (146 - 173.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ogerpon-Wellspring: 186-220 (61.7 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 174-206 (51 - 60.4%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon: 214-252 (60.9 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Samurott-Hisui: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Serperior: 168-198 (57.7 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 262-310 (66.4 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 228-270 (81.1 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Defensive Profile + Terastallization + Teammates View attachment 596660
Furret very clearly isn't winning any awards for its bulk - 85 HP is nice, but a full defensive profile of 85/64/55 is lacking, to say the least. That doesn't mean that Furret can't provide a defensive backbone to your team composition. Thanks to a natural Ghost-type immunity + the ability to Terastallize into Tera Fairy (far and away the preferred Tera-type for Furret based on testing) for a handy Dark/Fighting resistance + Dragon-immunity, Furret can survive some surprisingly powerful blows with no investment. It's thanks to this inherent matchup quality that Furret can contribute to its team's bulk synergy despite its meager defensive profile by capitalizing on two (with Tera) phenomenal immunities and predicted hits. Let's take a quick look at some defensive calculations, and then we'll look at teammates who bring out the best qualities of Furret and vice versa.
Pre-Terastallization (Normal Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 208-246 (66.8 - 79%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 238-280 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 274-324 (88.1 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Archaludon Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Corviknight Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 166-196 (53.3 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Dondozo Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 132-156 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
76 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 194-230 (62.3 - 73.9%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 197-232 (63.3 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 141-167 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Enamorus Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 256-303 (82.3 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tera Stellar Enamorus Tera Blast (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-254 (69.4 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 243-286 (78.1 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 265-313 (85.2 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Glimmora Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 82.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 0 Atk Gliscor Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 277-326 (89 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 283-334 (90.9 - 107.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 126-149 (40.5 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 130-154 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after trapping damage
252 Atk Iron Boulder Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Mighty Cleave vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Iron Crown Stored Power (60 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 247-292 (79.4 - 93.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 119-140 (38.2 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 261-307 (83.9 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 279-328 (89.7 - 105.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Kyurem Scale Shot (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 290-350 (93.2 - 112.5%) -- approx. 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret on a critical hit: 220-261 (70.7 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 204-240 (65.5 - 77.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protean Meowscarada Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 252-300 (81 - 96.4%) -- approx. 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 255-301 (81.9 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderclap vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 214-252 (68.8 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 198-234 (63.6 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 127-150 (40.8 - 48.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 92.6% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Future Sight vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Ting-Lu Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Torkoal Lava Plume vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret in Sun: 184-217 (59.1 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 178-211 (57.2 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
So Furret can survive some pretty gnarly moves (aka, more switch-in opportunities if you aren't able to facilitate a switch-in with something like Glowking) right? Now let's see some calculations against Furret once it terastallizes and gains the Fairy-type, as it pulls off some impressive feats including surviving a +2 Close Combat from Iron Boulder (and having a 93.7% chance to survive a +2 Tera Fighting Close Combat from Iron Boulder as well).
Terastallized (Fairy Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 52-61 (16.7 - 19.6%) -- guaranteed 6HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 59-70 (18.9 - 22.5%) -- possible 5HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 31.3% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 33.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 110-130 (35.3 - 41.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 107-126 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 117-138 (37.6 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 234-276 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 76-90 (24.4 - 28.9%) -- 99.7% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 89-105 (28.6 - 33.7%) -- 0.3% chance to 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 177-209 (56.9 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Tera Fighting Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 266-313 (85.5 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 141-166 (45.3 - 53.3%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 282-332 (90.6 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 102-120 (32.7 - 38.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 93-109 (29.9 - 35%) -- 19.2% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Samurott-Hisui Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 100-118 (32.1 - 37.9%) -- 95.4% chance to 3HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 68-81 (21.8 - 26%) -- 4.9% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 114-134 (36.6 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
+3 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 189-222 (60.7 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+4 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 226-267 (72.6 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Furret, despite being so frail, can survive powerful hits in a pinch if it needs to. Combine this unexpected ability to take hits with the defensive utility of both Normal and Fairy-type's immunities to Dragon/Ghost and the newfound resistance to Dark and Fighting-types (the latter of which Furret can bait quite easily), and you've got a comparatively frail Pokemon with some underestimated and unexpectedly potent defensive utility.
Teammates
Glowking has proven to be far and a way the best teammate choice in OU for Furret thanks to Regenerator, fantastic bulk, and Future Sight + Chilly Reception pairing well with Furret's ability to cripple threats. The two keep the momentum going with a combination of fast and slow pivots that allow you to completely control the flow of battle at your own pace. Frisk combines fantastically with the natural scouting of Glowking's glacially slow pivots so you'll likely have a much easier time uncovering your opponent's team loop + set variants with these two.
Great Tusk has far and away proven to be Furret's second most consistent OU teammate. Not only do the two of them pair well for double hazard control, but the two most common priority moves in OU (Sucker Punch and Thunderclap) are resisted/immune respectively by Great Tusk courtesy of its fantastic Ground/Fighting defensive typing. Do I need to say more? It's Great Tusk, he's a beast.
Zamazenta's excellent bulk, speed, power, and defensive utility are fantastic - it heavily appreciates Furret's ability to lock opponents into a single move, giving it opportunities to fire off powerful banded strikes or to set up with Iron Defense or get behind a Substitute. Providing opportunities to avoid being status'd is something that Zamazenta appreciates more than most other OU Pokemon due to its critically vital speed tier.
I've found that Dragapult (Choice Specs in particular) has way more opportunities to come in thanks to the opponent's propensity to fire off Fighting-type moves at Furret, allowing you to somewhat look past Dragapult's decidedly sketchy bulk and launch powerful Draco Meteors or Shadow Balls in your opponent's direction.
If your opponent can take down your Furret after being tricked, having a Pokemon with unaware to cushion a boosted blow and capitalize on whichever move the opponent's mon is locked into is a blessing. Skeledirge ironically enough makes a great partner for Furret thanks to its synergistic typing and natural Fighting-type immunity. Clefable and Clodsire both resist Fighting-type moves as well, while Dondozo in general is just a great Unaware mon with the ability to fit on a wide variety of teams.
Furret is adorable, and he deserves a break from the escalator (he's been building up those muscles for years). For real though, I was honestly shocked at how much work Furret was putting into so many games in OU - I'm generally an advocate for finding a small niche for almost any Pokemon, but I didn't expect Furret's niche to function this well. The more I played with Furret, the more I realized that its unique utility and newfound surroundings have been an absolute blessing for it. I'm going to continue using Furret in the OU tier, and I hope you consider giving him a try as well. Thank you for reading.
Unironically, a draft pick I picked up one time and had a lot of fun using. If I have any dislike for it, it's because of its meme status purely. Seeing it using scarf isn't a surprise but I was curious about whether you'd run super fang over anything in some structures?
Ok. But still. It would be unhealthy for the game wouldn't it. Maushold with two tidy up boosts or a tidy up boost and webs up outspeeds most if not all threats in the metagame. I don't think its a good idea to unban king's rock if it would allow something like this to happen. I think that it would be basically a 60-70% flinch chance on an attack and that's not okay.
If you let Maushold get to +2, you either have a Ditto in the back and are feeling lucky, punk, or you've lost already.
+2 252 Atk Technician Maushold Population Bomb (10 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ting-Lu: 420-510 (81.7 - 99.2%) -- approx. 75% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
Maushold has a very favorable roll to OHKO 252/252+ Ting-Lu with one layer of spikes. Bear in mind that 252/252+ Ting-Lu is not the standard; 252/4 is the normal, which is cleanly OHKO'd:
+2 252 Atk Technician Maushold Population Bomb (10 hits) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 570-670 (110.8 - 130.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Maushold would much rather run Wide Lens and bulldoze through the opponent than rely on Population Bomb's flaky accuracy when fishing for flinches.
Unironically, a draft pick I picked up one time and had a lot of fun using. If I have any dislike for it, it's because of its meme status purely. Seeing it using scarf isn't a surprise but I was curious about whether you'd run super fang over anything in some structures?
Yeah I did run Super Fang with early on, but I found myself not clicking it as much - plus the power of +1 Knock Off was just so much more helpful utility-wise. Although being able to chunk Dozo for 50% after Tricking with Scarf was a nice thing too.
It's less so about consistency and more about cheesing wins. Yeah, you may have a 10% miss chance every time you hit pop bomb, but if you can make your opponent not move, that is so worth it. You would have to be immune to normal while having great bulk, which is limited to pecharunt and ghold. And ghold can be cheesed by bite flinches. That's why stuff like kings rock is banned, it's cheesy to the point that it is not fun (though it is funny that the mouse is being discussed when we are talking about cheese strategies.)
Use it to ruin some poor reqs runners day with this team. Go ahead, and optimize it because it was made in five minutes. Realize that, huh, Swagger is legal wonder what nonsense I can do with that? I bid thee godmight, and horrid nightmares!
Use it to ruin some poor reqs runners day with this team. Go ahead, and optimize it because it was made in five minutes. Realize that, huh, Swagger is legal wonder what nonsense I can do with that? I bid thee godmight, and horrid nightmares!
Use it to ruin some poor reqs runners day with this team. Go ahead, and optimize it because it was made in five minutes. Realize that, huh, Swagger is legal wonder what nonsense I can do with that? I bid thee godmight, and horrid nightmares!
"Despite its short limbs, Furret is very quick and agile. This allows Furret to escape even when in the arms of a human."
- Bulbapedia
"Furret deserves more than just a mere quote, so I brought it to OST and made an OU theme song representative of
Furret's destructive ferocity."
- Morkal
In the realm of battle, the creatures clash,
Furret rises from the ashes with a vicious gnash.
With its quick feet and sharp claws,
It strikes fear into the hearts of all.
With every move, Furret's domination grows,
Overwhelming Kingambit and Darkrai's darkest blows.
Furret scurries, swift like the wind,
Leaving its opponents trembling from within.
Furret's reign, unstoppable and fierce,
Its power on the battlefield, crystal clear.
In the depths of fear, its enemies quake,
Furret's victory, no one can take.
Abilities
Run Away, Keen Eye, Frisk (Hidden Ability)
Notable Moves
Offensive - Body Slam, Brick Break, Double Edge, Facade, Fire Punch, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Knock Off, Last Resort, Play Rough, Quick Attack, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, Sucker Punch, Tera Blast, Thunder Punch, Trailblaze, U-Turn, Zen Headbutt Utility - Agility, Baton Pass, Chilling Water, Coil, Endeavor, Protect, Rest, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Super Fang, Tidy Up, Trick
Introduction View attachment 596580
Furret's competitive history is... well, it doesn't have much of one. Furret is an early-game Pokemon that most people generally view as more of a cute Pokemon to be looked at and adored rather than to be used in any serious competitive battle. Even down in ZU it's considered a low viability threat alongside pre-evolved Pokemon like Gloom and Vullaby. So, given that this is the the single lowest viability Pokemon I've ever worked with, why did I bring it with me to OST and why is it my second favorite Pokemon in the OU tier behind Archaludon? It's simple, Furret gained access to a swathe of incredible new tools in a metagame that thrives on Pokemon that can use those tools. In addition, its workable speed hits critical benchmarks and it provides incredible role compression to teams that need to be able to identify and disrupt threats in a way that not a single other Pokemon in the OU metagame can do. With that out of the way, let's dive into why Furret has been a fixture on a number of my OU teams.
Disclaimer:Furret cannot be carelessly placed onto a team and be expected to function effectively; Furret thrives on team compositions where its disruptive utility tactics actively benefit its partners such as Pokemon like Great Tusk, and careful teambuilding is required. I highly recommend looking through the excellent SV OU Speed Tiers thread by Mada to see exactly what benchmarks your team has difficulty with, and how Furret can help your team flow better synergistically. If you prepare properly, Furret can disrupt and potentially take two to three Pokemon out of commission in a single match (sometimes more). I'd like to give a special thanks to 1LDKalkazothkd458Sp0oN1oRdNickos and Overshoc for helping me with team building, research, observations, and meta-analysis to bring Furret to life in OU.
View attachment 596593 Furret Competitive Summary This is a "too long, didn't read" for people who want a quick summary of Furret's positive traits in OU without reading the essay-length post
Furret occupies a heavy role compression niche in OU as a Pokemon that occupies roles of scouting, clearing hazards, utility pivot, and scarf disruptor into a single team slot thanks to its unique access to Frisk, Tidy Up, and Trick - a combination that no other Pokemon in the metagame gets, in addition to having some of the best utility moves in the game like Knock Off and U-Turn.
Furret's newfound access to Tidy Up means that not only can it clear hazards along with boosting both its attack and speed (even after Tricking Scarf away), but it is one of the few hazard-clearing mons that Gholdengo cannot block.
Frisk is a phenomenal ability that allows Furret to scout the opponent's moveset ahead of time by showing the item your opponent is using - this gives you an extra cushion and layer of security when making turn-by-turn decisions, especially against balance, hyper offense, and stall teams.
Furret is the second fastest Pokemon to have access to the Frisk + Trick combination and only lags behind Munkidori; Munkidori cannot clear hazards, has a Dark + Ghost weakness instead of neutrality and immunity respectively and does not have access to Knock Off like Furret.
Furret's base 90 speed, while being a little frustrating, allows it to reach critical benchmarks both with and without Choice Scarf. These benchmarks allow it to outpace some of the most problematic threats in the metagame like Specs Dragapult, Gholdengo, Great Tusk, Scarf Rillaboom, and more.
Furret's ability to decide the best time when to pivot out, clear hazards, knock an opponent's item off, or steal an opponent's item is unparalleled thanks to Frisk and further allows you to cripple problematic threats such as Heavy-Duty Boots Skeledirge, Swords Dance Iron Boulder, Nasty Plot Darkrai, and more.
Furret has great synergy with some of OU's most notable threats - in particular, Archaludon, Darkrai, Galarian Slowking, and Great Tusk have proven themselves to be Furret's most consistently reliable partners on multiple archetypes.
Furret's Normal-typing alongside newfound access to Terastallization in conjunction with Tera Fairy allows it a surprisingly usable defensive profile that can flip matchups in a pinch - such as anything from locking in Choice Specs Draco Meteors to surviving a Close Combat while having the benefit of a very handy natural Ghost immunity.
Utility Disruptor/Hazard Control/Pivot/Scout Multiple Role Compression
Set #1 - First Choice (Preferred) View attachment 596617
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Set #2 - Second Choice (EV Tech, Niche) View attachment 596658
Furret @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 24 HP / 100 Atk / 144 Def / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Due to Furret's stats, it doesn't have a lot of wiggle room in terms of EV allotment. The majority of this analysis will revolve around Set #1 as it has proven to be the more consistent of the two sets, but I wanted to include a little tidbit here about this second variant as well due to some of its surprisingly effective defensive capabilities. The main disadvantage to this set is that you lose out on the speed tie with neutral 252 Deoxys-Speed and some of the OHKOs and 2HKOs that Furret can get at +1 in exchange for some surprising defensive utility including the ability to live a super effective 40 Atk EV Life Orb Deoxys-Speed's Superpower and have a 75% chance to OHKO in return.
40 Atk Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Superpower vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 265-312 (83.5 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
100 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 0- Def Deoxys-Speed: 230-272 (95.4 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
The choice of whether you value more natural power on Furret's attacks and keeping that neutral Deoxys-Speed tie or whether you value the defensive utility is up to you. I recommend Set #1, but Set #2 has put in some work for me as well albeit to more inconsistent results.
252 Atk Choice Band Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 272-324 (85.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 259-306 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 24 HP / 144 Def Furret: 232-274 (73.1 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With 252 EVs invested and a Jolly nature, Furret reaches a solid 306 speed. This specific speed tier is just enough to scurry past a sizeable chunk of OU's pervasive mid-speed offensive/bulky threats and some semi-speedier ones as well. Additionally, with Choice Scarf, Furret blitzes to 459 speed - which speed ties neutral-natured Deoxys-Speed. So let's look at some of the OU threats that Furret outpaces both with and without its Choice Scarf so we have an idea of where Furret has room to operate.
Furret - Jolly 252 EVs - 306 Speed
Positive Nature
(284 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (302 speed at 252 EVs) (293 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (300 speed at 252 EVs) (278 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (284 speed at 252 EVs) (273 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (298 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 152 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(303 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (295 speed at 252 EVs) (289 speed at 252 EVs) (281 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (279 speed at 252 EVs, 219 speed at 12 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (301 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs) (299 speed at 252 EVs)
Furret - Choice Scarf Jolly 252 EVs - 459 Speed
Positive Nature
(408 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (421 speed at 252 EVs) (426 speed at +1 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (439 speed at +1 252 EVs) (450 speed at +1 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (342 speed at 252 EVs) (364 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (379 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (350 speed at 252 EVs) (381 speed at 252 EVs) (370 speed at 252 EVs) (357 speed at 252 EVs) (375 speed at 252 EVs) (348 speed at 252 EVs) (383 speed at 252 EVs) (412 at 252 EVs)
Neutral Nature
(459 speed at 252 EVs) (436 speed at +2 0 EVs) (448 speed at +1 252 EVs)
Furret Functionality View attachment 596640
So right, Furret hits all these benchmarks, what can it do with these benchmarks? I'm going to share a replay of the third Bo3 OST match against Ghoulish Champ (awesome matches btw dude, your switch game was fantastic and I really liked your teams!) to share a little bit of Furret's functionality with all of you, where Furret was the most effective member of my team alongside Specs Kyurem.
In this OST match, Furret tricked Choice Scarf onto Skeledirge, used Tidy Up to clear hazards, and then pivoted out of a predicted Gliscor switch. Later Furret was able to Trick away Rotom-Wash's Leftovers, and then Furret lived Rotom-Wash's Hydro Pump to clear hazards once again. In that one match - Furret cleared hazards twice, crippled bulky Dirge, removed Rotom-Wash's passive longevity and repeatedly scouted multiple sets. Furret put in more work than almost the entire rest of the team (including Zapdos, who was about as functional as a weightless paperweight) - what's even cooler about this whole scenario is that this is generally the bare minimum of what Furret pulls off in OU matches.
Another common scenario revolves around Furret's "item passing" as demonstrated here. Furret tricks Choice Scarf onto Glimmora locking it into Stealth Rock, the opponent switches out to Hatterene while I Tidy Up to clear the hazards + give Furret a +1 boost to its attack and speed. From there, I use Trick again to take Hatterene's Leftovers and take a Draining Kiss, gaining its now lost passive recovery - then I use Knock Off to get rid of that Focus Sash and tank a Psyshock (which would have had a damage-range chance to kill me if it were not for that newfound passive recovery). I then pivot out into Glowking on a predicted Draining Kiss and chip Hatterene down further. This is what Furret does - it fumbles multiple of your opponent's threats, clears hazards, scouts set variants, and opens up opportunities for you to switch and play the field. So that's fine and dandy, right? What else can Furret do? Let's take a look at another interaction with two setup sweepers - Volcarona and Kingambit.
Furret comes in after I kill Roaring Moon with Zapdos - my opponent brings in Volcarona and attempts to set up with Quiver Dance, so I trick Scarf onto them which results in them having to switch, I then Tidy Up to get a boost expecting a potential switch from a faster Pokemon but I'm instead met with Kingambit. In this situation, things could get dicey, so I decided to do another Trick in case of a Sucker Punch and steal Kingambit's Leftovers, crippling its longevity and ability to switch into my future hazards.
The same thing applies to Defensive/Stall cores as well in the lead meta. I lead with Furret and trick Choice Scarf onto Ting-Lu while my Furret comfortably tanks its STAB Earthquake, I then pivot out predicting a switch or another Earthquake (with it being a switch) and safely bring in Great Tusk, allowing me to immediately apply pressure to his Glowking.
This is why those previously listed speed benchmarks are so important and why Furret's base 90 speed is quite scary with Trick + Scarf. Furret outpaces almost everything unboosted while still outpacing some monstrous threats even without its Choice Scarf. You hold the ability to turn a Pokemon that was once a poor matchup for your team into fodder material or even a liability with the correct prediction. Furret's attack and damage output is scant, only reaching 376 after a +1 boost from Tidy Up - but that can be surprisingly handy in a pinch. Let's take a quick look at what Furret can do at +1 to some of OU's notable threats.
Damage Calculations
( Knock Off [+1] + U-Turn [+1] )
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 176-208 (62.6 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Defense: 114-136 (37.5 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 242-286 (100.4 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 282-332 (88.9 - 104.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 232-274 (73.6 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 196+ Def Gholdengo: 174-206 (46 - 54.4%) -- 53.1% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Boulder: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 32 HP / 0 Def Iron Crown: 222-262 (67.4 - 79.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 428-508 (146 - 173.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ogerpon-Wellspring: 186-220 (61.7 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 174-206 (51 - 60.4%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon: 214-252 (60.9 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Samurott-Hisui: 192-228 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Serperior: 168-198 (57.7 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Furret Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 262-310 (66.4 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Furret U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 228-270 (81.1 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Defensive Profile + Terastallization + Teammates View attachment 596660
Furret very clearly isn't winning any awards for its bulk - 85 HP is nice, but a full defensive profile of 85/64/55 is lacking, to say the least. That doesn't mean that Furret can't provide a defensive backbone to your team composition. Thanks to a natural Ghost-type immunity + the ability to Terastallize into Tera Fairy (far and away the preferred Tera-type for Furret based on testing) for a handy Dark/Fighting resistance + Dragon-immunity, Furret can survive some surprisingly powerful blows with no investment. It's thanks to this inherent matchup quality that Furret can contribute to its team's bulk synergy despite its meager defensive profile by capitalizing on two (with Tera) phenomenal immunities and predicted hits. Let's take a quick look at some defensive calculations, and then we'll look at teammates who bring out the best qualities of Furret and vice versa.
Pre-Terastallization (Normal Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 208-246 (66.8 - 79%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 238-280 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 274-324 (88.1 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Archaludon Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Corviknight Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 166-196 (53.3 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Dondozo Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 132-156 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
76 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 194-230 (62.3 - 73.9%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 197-232 (63.3 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 141-167 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Enamorus Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 256-303 (82.3 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tera Stellar Enamorus Tera Blast (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-254 (69.4 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 243-286 (78.1 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 265-313 (85.2 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Glimmora Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 82.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 0 Atk Gliscor Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 277-326 (89 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 158-186 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Gouging Fire Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 283-334 (90.9 - 107.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 126-149 (40.5 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 130-154 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 217-256 (69.7 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after trapping damage
252 Atk Iron Boulder Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 148-175 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Mighty Cleave vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Iron Crown Stored Power (60 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 247-292 (79.4 - 93.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 119-140 (38.2 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 4 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 261-307 (83.9 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 279-328 (89.7 - 105.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Kyurem Scale Shot (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 232-280 (74.5 - 90%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Kyurem Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 290-350 (93.2 - 112.5%) -- approx. 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret on a critical hit: 220-261 (70.7 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 204-240 (65.5 - 77.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protean Meowscarada Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 252-300 (81 - 96.4%) -- approx. 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 255-301 (81.9 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Raging Bolt Thunderclap vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 211-249 (67.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 214-252 (68.8 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 198-234 (63.6 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 127-150 (40.8 - 48.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 237-279 (76.2 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 92.6% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Future Sight vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Slowking-Galar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Ting-Lu Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 169-199 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Torkoal Lava Plume vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret in Sun: 184-217 (59.1 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 178-211 (57.2 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcarona Fiery Dance vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 216-255 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Furret: 270-318 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
So Furret can survive some pretty gnarly moves (aka, more switch-in opportunities if you aren't able to facilitate a switch-in with something like Glowking) right? Now let's see some calculations against Furret once it terastallizes and gains the Fairy-type, as it pulls off some impressive feats including surviving a +2 Close Combat from Iron Boulder (and having a 93.7% chance to survive a +2 Tera Fighting Close Combat from Iron Boulder as well).
Terastallized (Fairy Type)
0 Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 52-61 (16.7 - 19.6%) -- guaranteed 6HKO
252+ Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 59-70 (18.9 - 22.5%) -- possible 5HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 31.3% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 140-165 (45 - 53%) -- 33.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 110-130 (35.3 - 41.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Fairy Furret: 107-126 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 117-138 (37.6 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 4 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 234-276 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 76-90 (24.4 - 28.9%) -- 99.7% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 89-105 (28.6 - 33.7%) -- 0.3% chance to 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 177-209 (56.9 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Tera Fighting Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 266-313 (85.5 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 141-166 (45.3 - 53.3%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 282-332 (90.6 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 102-120 (32.7 - 38.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 93-109 (29.9 - 35%) -- 19.2% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Samurott-Hisui Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 100-118 (32.1 - 37.9%) -- 95.4% chance to 3HKO
160+ Def Skarmory Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 68-81 (21.8 - 26%) -- 4.9% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 108-127 (34.7 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 114-134 (36.6 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 151-178 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
+3 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 189-222 (60.7 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+4 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Furret: 226-267 (72.6 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Furret, despite being so frail, can survive powerful hits in a pinch if it needs to. Combine this unexpected ability to take hits with the defensive utility of both Normal and Fairy-type's immunities to Dragon/Ghost and the newfound resistance to Dark and Fighting-types (the latter of which Furret can bait quite easily), and you've got a comparatively frail Pokemon with some underestimated and unexpectedly potent defensive utility.
Teammates
Glowking has proven to be far and a way the best teammate choice in OU for Furret thanks to Regenerator, fantastic bulk, and Future Sight + Chilly Reception pairing well with Furret's ability to cripple threats. The two keep the momentum going with a combination of fast and slow pivots that allow you to completely control the flow of battle at your own pace. Frisk combines fantastically with the natural scouting of Glowking's glacially slow pivots so you'll likely have a much easier time uncovering your opponent's team loop + set variants with these two.
Great Tusk has far and away proven to be Furret's second most consistent OU teammate. Not only do the two of them pair well for double hazard control, but the two most common priority moves in OU (Sucker Punch and Thunderclap) are resisted/immune respectively by Great Tusk courtesy of its fantastic Ground/Fighting defensive typing. Do I need to say more? It's Great Tusk, he's a beast.
Zamazenta's excellent bulk, speed, power, and defensive utility are fantastic - it heavily appreciates Furret's ability to lock opponents into a single move, giving it opportunities to fire off powerful banded strikes or to set up with Iron Defense or get behind a Substitute. Providing opportunities to avoid being status'd is something that Zamazenta appreciates more than most other OU Pokemon due to its critically vital speed tier.
I've found that Dragapult (Choice Specs in particular) has way more opportunities to come in thanks to the opponent's propensity to fire off Fighting-type moves at Furret, allowing you to somewhat look past Dragapult's decidedly sketchy bulk and launch powerful Draco Meteors or Shadow Balls in your opponent's direction.
If your opponent can take down your Furret after being tricked, having a Pokemon with unaware to cushion a boosted blow and capitalize on whichever move the opponent's mon is locked into is a blessing. Skeledirge ironically enough makes a great partner for Furret thanks to its synergistic typing and natural Fighting-type immunity. Clefable and Clodsire both resist Fighting-type moves as well, while Dondozo in general is just a great Unaware mon with the ability to fit on a wide variety of teams.
Furret is adorable, and he deserves a break from the escalator (he's been building up those muscles for years). For real though, I was honestly shocked at how much work Furret was putting into so many games in OU - I'm generally an advocate for finding a small niche for almost any Pokemon, but I didn't expect Furret's niche to function this well. The more I played with Furret, the more I realized that its unique utility and newfound surroundings have been an absolute blessing for it. I'm going to continue using Furret in the OU tier, and I hope you consider giving him a try as well. Thank you for reading.
Here's something I didn't know before doing gimmick teams, the jaboca and rowap berry deal 1/8 to your opponent if your mon is hit by a physical or special move respectively. Imagine if they did say 1/4 damage, they may have some use on defensive boost sweepers.
Here's something I didn't know before doing gimmick teams, the jaboca and rowap berry deal 1/8 to your opponent if your mon is hit by a physical or special move respectively. Imagine if they did say 1/4 damage, they may have some use on defensive boost sweepers.
Here's something I didn't know before doing gimmick teams, the jaboca and rowap berry deal 1/8 to your opponent if your mon is hit by a physical or special move respectively. Imagine if they did say 1/4 damage, they may have some use on defensive boost sweepers.
Probably would, but I do think that it could be cool either aganst boost sweepers or on boost sweepers, as the consistent damage would be great for mons that could force opponents into low health. I'm right now thinking of a psychic noise + one of those berries to make sure the opponent can't heal it off.
If you let Maushold get to +2, you either have a Ditto in the back and are feeling lucky, punk, or you've lost already.
+2 252 Atk Technician Maushold Population Bomb (10 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ting-Lu: 420-510 (81.7 - 99.2%) -- approx. 75% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
Maushold has a very favorable roll to OHKO 252/252+ Ting-Lu with one layer of spikes. Bear in mind that 252/252+ Ting-Lu is simply not a thing; 252/4 is the normal, which is cleanly OHKO'd:
+2 252 Atk Technician Maushold Population Bomb (10 hits) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 570-670 (110.8 - 130.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Maushold would much rather run Wide Lens and bulldoze through the opponent than rely on Population Bomb's flaky accuracy when fishing for flinches.
+1 252 SpA Mold Breaker Tera Steel Excadrill Steel Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 420-496 (96.7 - 114.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
And who said that excadrill didn't have good special attack?
(I'm showing this calc because excadrill was the second last mon I needed to create a gimmick set for, the last is weavile which I still haven't done, and I am so out of new ideas that I decided to go full in on the suicide lead exca from Gen 8)
+1 252 SpA Mold Breaker Tera Steel Excadrill Steel Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 420-496 (96.7 - 114.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
And who said that excadrill didn't have good special attack?
(I'm showing this calc because excadrill was the second last mon I needed to create a gimmick set for, the last is weavile which I still haven't done, and I am so out of new ideas that I decided to go full in on the suicide lead exca from Gen 8)
I have created a gimmick set for every OU and UUBL mon (To create 8 full gimmick teams I had to use all UUBL mons Latias, Iron hands and Blaziken). LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO!!!!!!
(284 speed at 252 EVs)
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(295 speed at 252 EVs)
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(350 speed at 252 EVs)
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