#039 Ninetales
The Fox Pokemon
Ninetales has long been one of the most popular and well known Pokemon in the entirety of the franchise and is a personal favorite of mine. The beautiful design has left it as one of the most endearing that the series has offered, though unfortunately, its popularity has never really transitioned to its effectiveness in battle. Though Ninetales is by no means a terrible Pokemon, it certainly isn't going to win any Best Pokemon Awards anytime soon. Ninetales has relatively mediocre stats, though its nice movepool and nice ability in Drought gives it some utility, but unfortunately it's outclassed in many situations. With the right tools, Ninetales can be an asset to a time, but more often than not, another Pokemon will be capable of doing everything that it can do, but better.
Suggested Set:
Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/30/31
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Ability: Drought
Moves:
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam/Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Hidden Power (Ice)
This set takes full advantage of what Ninetales does best; the sun raises the power of Ninetales' Fire Blast and coupled with Nasty Plot, its mediocre Sp. Attack stat will be raised to threatening levels. Thanks to its decent speed, it'll be able to do some decent damage to opposing Steel-, Bug-, Ice-, and Grass-types. Solar Beam is useful when dealing with Rock- and Water-types, and thanks to Drought, Ninetales will no longer need to wait a turn to charge. However, if this is a concern of yours, Solar Beam can be replaced with Dark Pulse, though the coverage against Rock- and Water-types that would threaten Ninetales will be sorely missed. Hidden Power is used to deal with pesky Ground- and Flying-types that would otherwise plague Ninetales; Pokemon like Gliscor would otherwise be able to wall it with little trouble, though it's weak without a Nasty Plot boost.
The Heat Rock will extend the amount of time that Drought will remain active, giving Ninetales the ability to support its team. However, you can replace the Heat Rock with either a Firium-Z or Grassium-Z for a one time, incredibly strong attack. Firium-Z will turn Fire Blast into an incredibly strong Inferno Overdrive outright KO most things that don't resist it while the Grassium-Z will bypass Solar Beam's need to charge, giving Ninetales a powerful Grass-type option, being useful as a last resort.
Though this set can prove troublesome, it isn't hard to counter, so team support is necessary. Without a Nasty Plot boost, Ninetales is fairly weak and anything with a decent Sp. Defense can wall it, things like Chansey, Blissey, or Porygon2 will make Ninetales' life a living nightmare. Even with a boost, it can easily be walled. While its Speed is nice, it's not great and can easily be outsped and KO'd by faster Pokemon like Garchomp or Choice Scarf Tyrantrum. Ninetales is severely hampered by status, especially Paralysis. Entry hazards pose a major issue for Ninetales as well. All of these issues require ample support from its other team members. Defog and Rapid Spin support is almost required in order to keep entry hazards from cutting Ninetales' time short, status support and entry hazard support from its own team is useful. Spikes and Stealth Rock will make it easier for Ninetales to net KOs. All in all, Ninetales is a decent Pokemon, though it requires loads of team support to do what it needs to do. With the right tools, it'll prove to be an asset.
Alolan Spotlight:
When the seventh generation rolled around, a number of Kanto Pokemon had received special treatment and got a new form. Ninetales was among the many chosen to receive a new form. It quickly became my favorite of these Alolan variants and it's certainly an improvement over the original form, though like the original Ninetales, it has many limitations that hold it back. A nice typing in Ice- and Fairy- gives it plenty of useful resistances against Bug-, Ice-, and Dark- as well as nifty Dragon-type immunity, however its typing also gives it a number of crippling weaknesses. A 4x weakness to Steel-, along with weaknesses to Poison-, Rock-, and ironically, Fire-types makes it difficult to switch in. A shallow, but useful movepool and a nifty ability in Snow Warning gives it some usefulness, but mediocre stats hold it back severely.
Suggested Set:
Ninetales @ Light Clay
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 248 SpA / 8 HP / 252 Spe
Ability: Snow Warning
Moves:
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Moonblast
- Dark Pulse/Encore/Hail
Since Ninetales is the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, this gives the Pokemon an excellent supporting role. Under hail, Blizzard is perfectly accurate and extremely strong, doing heavy damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Moonblast rounds out Ninetales' great STAB and in the case that the Hail ends, it gives Ninetales a good back up to Blizzard. Dark Pulse rounds out the coverage, being effective against opposing Psychic- and Ghost-types, though it can be replaced with Encore to further enhance its role as a supporting Pokemon, trapping opponents into boosting moves or into useless status moves can prove to be the turning point in your battles, and lastly, Hail can be used to replenish the weather on the battlefield, allowing Aurora Veil to remain useful. The Light Clay will push Aurora Veil to the max.
Though the Alolan Ninetales plays an excellent supporting role, it has a few things that hold it back. While its typing provides it with plenty of offensive options and some nifty resistances, it's proven to be more trouble than worth. Being extremely weak to moves like Bullet Punch isn't great, especially when you consider how common Pokemon like Scizor and Metagross are, two of the best users of the move. Though it has access to Nasty Plot, it often doesn't have the chance to squeeze it into the moveset and because of this, Ninetales' has trouble dealing much damage unless it's under Hail. Mediocre defenses make it easy to KO Ninetales and while it's got a great Speed stat, it's often outsped by common Choice Scarf users like Nihilego, Victini, and Garchomp who can easily OHKO the Pokemon with their super-effective moves. Lastly, it's hampered by status and entry hazards, requiring support from its other teammates. All in all, the Alolan Ninetales can be a very effective Pokemon, perhaps more so than its original counterpart, but it's held back by the same limitations.
What are you thoughts on the Fox Pokemon? What kind of experiences have you had with Ninetales in battle? Tell me your stories in the comments below! Thanks for reading the ramblings of a random moth.
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