[Overview]
Urshifu-R is a very potent wallbreaker and pivot in the OU metagame, being able to force switches and threaten common Pokemon like Corviknight, Skarmory, and Mandibuzz while pivoting on switch-ins to its STAB moves such as Toxapex, Slowbro, and Tangrowth. It can even overwhelm and take advantage of defensive cores made of bulky Water-types like Slowking and Tapu Fini with ease. It has incredibly strong priority in its STAB Choice Band-boosted Aqua Jet, making it effective at revenge killing weakened faster foes like boosted Volcarona. Its STAB moves, while strong, are resisted by common walls such as Toxapex and Slowbro, which limits it as a wallbreaker in certain matchups. However, it can gain momentum by pivoting out of these into offensive teammates like Kartana and Tapu Koko for additional pressure. Urshifu-R only uses contact moves, so Surging Strikes can cause almost 50% in self-damage against Iron Barbs and Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex and Corviknight, making them able to consistently wear it down; in addition, Static from Zapdos can be extremely limiting. Urshifu-R is reliant on Choice Band to do most of its damage, meaning that it can't utilize its Dark resistance to switch into Knock Off without heavy punishment. This also makes it heavily prediction-reliant, potentially losing momentum against walls if it uses a resisted move.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Surging Strikes
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: U-turn
item: Choice Band
ability: Unseen Fist
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Surging Strikes ignores Defense boosts from Pokemon such as Iron Defense Corviknight and Skarmory, as well as breaking through Substitutes and potential Focus Sashes. Aqua Jet is great for revenge killing chipped foes, especially helping in the hyper offense matchup. Frailer Pokemon such as Volcarona, Blacephalon, and Hawlucha all take good damage from Aqua Jet, with the former two being OHKOed and Hawlucha having a potential sweep stopped when chipped. U-turn lets Urshifu-R keep up momentum on defensive switch-ins and provide wallbreaking opportunities for its teammates. Choice Band allows it to 2HKO many pivots such as Slowking, Skarmory, and Corviknight. A Jolly nature allows Urshifu-R to outspeed and revenge kill Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Kyurem, and Landorus-T at the cost of some power. However, if outspeeding these Pokemon isn't important for the team, an Adamant nature lets it break through normal soft checks like Buzzwole, Slowking, and Tangrowth much more easily. Ice Punch can be used over Aqua Jet, giving it a very hard hit on Dragon-types trying to pivot into and scout it such as Garchomp, Dragonite, and Dragapult. It also gives a decently strong hit against Grass-types like Tangrowth and Amoonguss without having the Defense drop and Pokemon immune to it.
With Urshifu-R acting as a very strong pivot with U-turn, many powerful wallbreakers appreciate its presence. Heatran, Kartana, and Kyurem can be given free switch ins and threaten out checks to Urshifu-R such as Slowbro, Tangrowth, and Toxapex with their own powerful attacks. Heatran in particular appreciates free switch in from U-turn to fire off Magma Storm and trap foes, and, as Dragon- and Water-types commonly come into Heatran, this chips them down for Urshifu-R to break. Dragapult can invite Pokemon like Blissey and Mandibuzz that Urshifu-R can pressure, and together they can remove shared checks such as Tapu Fini, forming a terrifying wallbreaking core. Tapu Lele works as a great partner to help overwhelm common pivots like Slowking while also appreciating momentum from Urshifu-R's U-turn. With Rocky Helmet users being such a big issue for Urshifu-R, Knock Off users such as Rillaboom, Kartana, and Tornadus-T, which invite in Rocky Helmet users like Corviknight, Skarmory, and Toxapex, are greatly appreciated. Rain support provided by Pelipper powers up Surging Strikes to incredible levels and lets Aqua Jet revenge kill foes more easily. Defensive checks such as Tapu Fini, Buzzwole, and specially defensive Toxapex are much less safe switch-ins with rain up. Future Sight support from the likes of Slowking, Galarian Slowking, and Slowbro is also incredibly useful for Urshifu-R, helping it break through checks it normally can't such as Toxapex, Tangrowth, and Amoonguss. Blissey acts as a specially bulky pivot that covers for some of Urshifu-R's big weaknesses to Pokemon like Dragapult while also giving it free switch ins with Teleport to wallbreak.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Urshifu-R can run a set of Whirlpool, Taunt, Surging Strikes, and Thunder Punch or Close Combat with Protective Pads. This lets it greatly bait in and trap checks like Toxapex, Slowbro, and Slowking but sacrifices a large amount of breaking power with the loss of a damage-boosting item. A Bulk Up sweeper set can allow it to boost without locking it into a move. Equipped with Bulk Up, Zen Headbutt or Thunder Punch alongside its dual STAB moves, and Protective Pads to ignore Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs chip damage, it can set up against Pokemon such as Toxapex and Corviknight lacking Brave Bird. However, its lack of initial power, pivoting, and priority takes away a lot of Urshifu-R's normal strengths. A Protective Pads with four attacks set can also be used, letting Urshifu-R freely pivot with U-turn and use Surging Strikes without fear of contact effects. The power drop is massive, though, noticeably making it ineffective at breaking through Pokemon like Corviknight and Skarmory immediately, limiting it as a wallbreaker overall. Choice Scarf Urshifu-R can act as a fast revenge killer with strong STAB moves. This set comes at the cost of a lot of attacking power, though, and with Urshifu-R's general goal being to wallbreak, it is not heavily recommended.
Checks and Counters
====
**Bulky Water-types**: Toxapex and Slowbro completely wall Choice Band sets lacking Thunder Punch, and they can easily take a Thunder Punch and pivot out if needed. Other Water-types such as Tapu Fini can also check Urshifu-R, but, as Tapu Fini lacks reliable recovery, it can't wall Urshifu-R long term.
**Grass-types**: Defensive Grass-types like Tangrowth and Amoonguss can completely wall Urshifu-R, and offensive Grass-types like Rillaboom and Kartana threaten it with an OHKO from their STAB moves while resisting Surging Strikes and Aqua Jet.
**Contact Effects**: Rocky Helmet, Ferrothorn's Iron Barbs, and Zapdos's Static are all extremely harmful to Urshifu-R due to its heavy use of Surging Strikes and U-turn, making it much less effective.
**Fast Wallbreakers**: Urshifu-R's Speed is fairly average and its special bulk and defensive typing leave much to be desired, allowing many strong wallbreakers to revenge kill it. Zeraora, Tapu Koko, Dragapult, and Tornadus-T all force it to switch out, as they easily beat it offensively.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Fc, 511624]]
- Quality checked by: [[airfare, 513717], [ausma, 360720]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [Milak, 262594]]
Urshifu-R is a very potent wallbreaker and pivot in the OU metagame, being able to force switches and threaten common Pokemon like Corviknight, Skarmory, and Mandibuzz while pivoting on switch-ins to its STAB moves such as Toxapex, Slowbro, and Tangrowth. It can even overwhelm and take advantage of defensive cores made of bulky Water-types like Slowking and Tapu Fini with ease. It has incredibly strong priority in its STAB Choice Band-boosted Aqua Jet, making it effective at revenge killing weakened faster foes like boosted Volcarona. Its STAB moves, while strong, are resisted by common walls such as Toxapex and Slowbro, which limits it as a wallbreaker in certain matchups. However, it can gain momentum by pivoting out of these into offensive teammates like Kartana and Tapu Koko for additional pressure. Urshifu-R only uses contact moves, so Surging Strikes can cause almost 50% in self-damage against Iron Barbs and Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex and Corviknight, making them able to consistently wear it down; in addition, Static from Zapdos can be extremely limiting. Urshifu-R is reliant on Choice Band to do most of its damage, meaning that it can't utilize its Dark resistance to switch into Knock Off without heavy punishment. This also makes it heavily prediction-reliant, potentially losing momentum against walls if it uses a resisted move.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Surging Strikes
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: U-turn
item: Choice Band
ability: Unseen Fist
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Surging Strikes ignores Defense boosts from Pokemon such as Iron Defense Corviknight and Skarmory, as well as breaking through Substitutes and potential Focus Sashes. Aqua Jet is great for revenge killing chipped foes, especially helping in the hyper offense matchup. Frailer Pokemon such as Volcarona, Blacephalon, and Hawlucha all take good damage from Aqua Jet, with the former two being OHKOed and Hawlucha having a potential sweep stopped when chipped. U-turn lets Urshifu-R keep up momentum on defensive switch-ins and provide wallbreaking opportunities for its teammates. Choice Band allows it to 2HKO many pivots such as Slowking, Skarmory, and Corviknight. A Jolly nature allows Urshifu-R to outspeed and revenge kill Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Kyurem, and Landorus-T at the cost of some power. However, if outspeeding these Pokemon isn't important for the team, an Adamant nature lets it break through normal soft checks like Buzzwole, Slowking, and Tangrowth much more easily. Ice Punch can be used over Aqua Jet, giving it a very hard hit on Dragon-types trying to pivot into and scout it such as Garchomp, Dragonite, and Dragapult. It also gives a decently strong hit against Grass-types like Tangrowth and Amoonguss without having the Defense drop and Pokemon immune to it.
With Urshifu-R acting as a very strong pivot with U-turn, many powerful wallbreakers appreciate its presence. Heatran, Kartana, and Kyurem can be given free switch ins and threaten out checks to Urshifu-R such as Slowbro, Tangrowth, and Toxapex with their own powerful attacks. Heatran in particular appreciates free switch in from U-turn to fire off Magma Storm and trap foes, and, as Dragon- and Water-types commonly come into Heatran, this chips them down for Urshifu-R to break. Dragapult can invite Pokemon like Blissey and Mandibuzz that Urshifu-R can pressure, and together they can remove shared checks such as Tapu Fini, forming a terrifying wallbreaking core. Tapu Lele works as a great partner to help overwhelm common pivots like Slowking while also appreciating momentum from Urshifu-R's U-turn. With Rocky Helmet users being such a big issue for Urshifu-R, Knock Off users such as Rillaboom, Kartana, and Tornadus-T, which invite in Rocky Helmet users like Corviknight, Skarmory, and Toxapex, are greatly appreciated. Rain support provided by Pelipper powers up Surging Strikes to incredible levels and lets Aqua Jet revenge kill foes more easily. Defensive checks such as Tapu Fini, Buzzwole, and specially defensive Toxapex are much less safe switch-ins with rain up. Future Sight support from the likes of Slowking, Galarian Slowking, and Slowbro is also incredibly useful for Urshifu-R, helping it break through checks it normally can't such as Toxapex, Tangrowth, and Amoonguss. Blissey acts as a specially bulky pivot that covers for some of Urshifu-R's big weaknesses to Pokemon like Dragapult while also giving it free switch ins with Teleport to wallbreak.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Urshifu-R can run a set of Whirlpool, Taunt, Surging Strikes, and Thunder Punch or Close Combat with Protective Pads. This lets it greatly bait in and trap checks like Toxapex, Slowbro, and Slowking but sacrifices a large amount of breaking power with the loss of a damage-boosting item. A Bulk Up sweeper set can allow it to boost without locking it into a move. Equipped with Bulk Up, Zen Headbutt or Thunder Punch alongside its dual STAB moves, and Protective Pads to ignore Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs chip damage, it can set up against Pokemon such as Toxapex and Corviknight lacking Brave Bird. However, its lack of initial power, pivoting, and priority takes away a lot of Urshifu-R's normal strengths. A Protective Pads with four attacks set can also be used, letting Urshifu-R freely pivot with U-turn and use Surging Strikes without fear of contact effects. The power drop is massive, though, noticeably making it ineffective at breaking through Pokemon like Corviknight and Skarmory immediately, limiting it as a wallbreaker overall. Choice Scarf Urshifu-R can act as a fast revenge killer with strong STAB moves. This set comes at the cost of a lot of attacking power, though, and with Urshifu-R's general goal being to wallbreak, it is not heavily recommended.
Checks and Counters
====
**Bulky Water-types**: Toxapex and Slowbro completely wall Choice Band sets lacking Thunder Punch, and they can easily take a Thunder Punch and pivot out if needed. Other Water-types such as Tapu Fini can also check Urshifu-R, but, as Tapu Fini lacks reliable recovery, it can't wall Urshifu-R long term.
**Grass-types**: Defensive Grass-types like Tangrowth and Amoonguss can completely wall Urshifu-R, and offensive Grass-types like Rillaboom and Kartana threaten it with an OHKO from their STAB moves while resisting Surging Strikes and Aqua Jet.
**Contact Effects**: Rocky Helmet, Ferrothorn's Iron Barbs, and Zapdos's Static are all extremely harmful to Urshifu-R due to its heavy use of Surging Strikes and U-turn, making it much less effective.
**Fast Wallbreakers**: Urshifu-R's Speed is fairly average and its special bulk and defensive typing leave much to be desired, allowing many strong wallbreakers to revenge kill it. Zeraora, Tapu Koko, Dragapult, and Tornadus-T all force it to switch out, as they easily beat it offensively.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Fc, 511624]]
- Quality checked by: [[airfare, 513717], [ausma, 360720]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [Milak, 262594]]
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