[Overview]
<p>Though Ninetales is an average Pokemon in many respects, its access to the Drought ability gives it an important role in
Standard OU play, both by supporting its entire team with
the perpetual
sun and by somewhat patching up its previously lackluster offense and its rather poor defensive typing. Ninetales will take a starring role on any team wishing to exploit
Sunny Day the sunlight, and is even quite useful on less weather-centered teams for its ability to remove the more ubiquitous
sand and
rain from the battlefield.</p>
[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Flamethrower
move 2: Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hypnosis / Protect
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Drought
Nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 92 SpD / 164 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set sacrifices
Ninetales's offensive capabilities to further efforts to keep it alive.
Ninetales's poor defensive typing leaves it weak to both
sides parts of the EdgeQuake combination, making efforts at significant physical defensiveness shaky indeed, but with Will-O-Wisp
support Ninetales can at least take neutral physical hits fairly well. Ninetales
does fares much better on the special side, with its Water weakness negated by Drought and its lack of vulnerabilities to other common special attacking types.</p>
<p>Flamethrower still has decent power under the
sun with no investment, and with the given Speed EVs allows Ninetales to reliably revenge
Doryuuzu Excadrill. Will-O-Wisp lets Ninetales harass
the many bulky
Fire resists that switch into it and
especially allows it to
notably punish Tyranitar for starting a
sandstorm and forcing Ninetales out. Substitute eases prediction for Ninetales, letting it burn Tyranitar or others safely as its
Substitute is broken. Substitute also allows Ninetales to deal with Balloon Heatran more safely, managing a 3HKO with Hidden Power Fighting
and SR after Stealth Rock should Heatran switch into a
Substitute. Hidden Power Fighting also gives Ninetales an attack to damage Tyranitar with in an emergency, but it is usually only suitable for finishing
it off off an already-weakened one.</p>
<p>One may choose to use Hypnosis to
threaten shut down the many Pokemon
which that would otherwise wall Ninetales, but its high miss rate and the status conflict with Will-O-Wisp
may discourage this makes it a dubious option. Protect is another option on this set in the fourth slot to facilitate stalling with
Substitutes, accumulating burn damage on the enemy while healing Ninetales with Leftovers. Beware that Protect is dangerous to use when a weather inducer has switched into Ninetales, because if they switch out on Protect Ninetales may be left facing a weather sweeper in with its sweeping weather up. With Protect and Will-O-Wisp Ninetales is also completely unable to touch
Fire-types, meaning Flash Fire users especially are free to switch in to set up or try to catch boosts. Ninetales can use Toxic with Protect instead and only be entirely walled by Heatran, but it will have more trouble with physical attackers, especially Tyranitar, if it chooses this option.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>A Chesto Berry can be used with Rest in lieu of Substitute to get some immediate recovery for Ninetales to frustrate an opponent
who is close to finishing it off. Since weather inducers predictably switch right into Ninetales upon its appearance, Ninetales will have many chances to use Rest safely and heal up. Energy Ball can be used in the fourth slot to harass bulky
Waters and revenge
Rain Dance-supported Kabutops
supported by Rain Dance, but is generally less useful due to the this set's lack of offensive power. The
Special Defense EVs
might could be put into Defense or
Special Attack instead, should you want your Ninetales to take physical attacks better or hit a bit harder. In particular, if you fear
Doryuuzu Excadrill with some HP investment, or wish to 3HKO Heatran without
SR Stealth Rock up,
then you would be well advised to put those EVs
in SpA into Special Attack.</p>
<p>This Ninetales is especially suited to selflessly
providing for Sun Sweepers supporting sun sweepers, especially
ones Sun Sweepers that can damage other weather inducers for switching in. Since
it Ninetales lacks the power to punish other weather inducers itself, it relies on good hazard support to limit their
switch-ins switches, wearing them down over the course of the match. Conversely, its Leftovers healing and more defensive
EVs EV spread make it somewhat better at dealing with hazards than the other sets, and it is not as dependent on Rapid Spin
or Wish support
or as greedy for wishes. Teammates with Heal Bell or Aromatherapy to wake it up from Rests are especially helpful, and Roserade and Blissey deserve special mention for the ability to both wake up Ninetales and lay Spikes and
SR Stealth Rock respectively to sabotage other weather inducers.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 2: Will-O-Wisp
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground / Hypnosis
Item: Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Drought
Nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Though it sports a mediocre
SpA Special Attack stat of 81, Ninetales is well suited to an offensive set due to the power of its Fire Blast in the
sunshine. Offensive Ninetales can land powerful hits on many common tanks with Fire Blast: it is almost certain to OHKO 252/0
Gliscor, and it can manage 120/136
Conkeldurr Roobushin as well with a layer of Spikes. With a Life Orb hastening
Ninetales's death however, it might be unwise to use this set as the lynchpin of a heavily
sun-dependent team; this version of Ninetales tends to be more useful
individually, and does well supporting
weather-neutral teams by overriding
rain and
sand while also acting as a decent artillery piece.</p>
<p>Though the presence of such an overwhelming move
as sun-boosted Fire Blast makes coverage rather redundant in many situations, weather inducers such as Tyranitar and Politoed are able to ruin
Ninetales's fun by switching in and taking the resisted Fire Blast as they
switch change the weather. Energy Ball can
menace batter both of them for better damage, and Will-O-Wisp can threaten to cripple
T-tar Tyranitar on the switch or at least mitigate the impressive bulk of Politoed and Hippowdon. Hidden Power Fighting can 2HKO Balloon Heatran
with SR after Stealth Rock and at least wound Tyranitar, though one might use Hidden Power Ground instead if you wish to Speed tie Jirachi and other Ninetales or fear being walled by
Shandera Chandelure. Hypnosis is an option
as well to cripple durable special
attackers, such as Latias, who like to switch into Ninetales, switching into Ninetales such as Latias, but if you use it over a Hidden Power
the low accuracy attack then this low accuracy move will be
Ninetales's your only option against Heatran.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>A player wishing to be a bit more conservative with his Ninetales can run Leftovers on this set, but Ninetales will struggle to cripple tanks and get important KOs. In particular, Hidden Power Fighting no longer has a chance to even 2HKO Heatran,
which should make you quite leery of giving it so Ninetales must be careful lest it grants Heatran a possible Flash Fire
boost on the switch. When using Leftovers the consistency of Flamethrower becomes much more attractive than before, because you will miss many important OHKOs anyway.</p>
<p>A number of dangerous sun sweepers such as Venusaur and
Tangela Shiftry are supported by Drought, but the less obvious advantage of negating both
rain and
sand along with the general individual competence of this set allows Ninetales to partner well with
weather-neutral Pokemon. Fast
Scarfers, Dragon Dance
sweepers, and Agility users especially appreciate this
weather-cancelling effect as it prevents them from being easily revenged by
Doryuuzu Excadrill. With a Life Orb, Ninetales will die quickly and appreciates Magic
Mirror Bounce, Rapid Spin, and Wish support even more than usual.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Overheat / Fire Blast
move 2: Energy Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Flamethrower / Hypnosis
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Drought
Nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Specs Ninetales should be played aggressively, predicting
weather inducer switch-ins
by weather inducers and using the appropriate move to damage them. Ninetales does well revenging slower Pokemon, threatening them with powerful Fire moves and tempting the opponent to predict and send in a weather inducer. Be wary though, since if Ninetales makes a kill with a Fire move it can easily be trapped
and clobbered by Pursuit Tyranitar for large amounts of damage or even eliminated by Wobbuffet.</p>
<p>Drought,
STAB, and Choice Specs together power up
Ninetales's Fire attacks to
nigh-unbelievable levels,
singlehandedly making the Specs set a fearsome force. Overheat and Energy Ball are the bread and butter of the set, with Overheat threatening massive damage should the opponent not send in a resist, and Energy Ball threatening many of those resists in turn. Specs Ninetales boasts some impressive OHKOs with Overheat, such as
Rankuruusu Reuniclus, all but the very
specially-bulkiest versions of
Roobushin Conkeldurr, and even an outside shot at Salamence
through resistance after Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Fighting is especially good for taking pieces out of Tyranitar, but requires an imperfect
Speed IV and will lose you ties with other base 100
Speed Pokemon. Hidden Power Ground on the other hand allows a perfect
Speed IV but is generally less useful and can cause difficulties
popping considering the ubiquity of Balloons on many Pokemon.</p>
<p>Though
Choiced Hypnosis may seem questionable, on Ninetales specifically it can be quite
useful; it allows Ninetales to cripple bulky Dragons such as Latias on the switch, who would otherwise counter Ninetales with impunity and set up on it. Bulky dragons such as Latias can otherwise counter Ninetales with impunity and set up on it, but Hypnosis will cripple them on the switch. Hypnosis also allows you to avoid using Fire moves if you fear killing something and being trapped by Tyranitar or Wobbuffet. Fire Blast can be used instead of Overheat with Hypnosis if you want a repeatable
and consistent Fire attack, but shouldn't be used with Flamethrower for obvious reasons.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Will-O-Wisp is usually
Ninetales's best support move, but
it obviously has issues on the
Choice set. Even so, it can be useful for wearing down
SpD specially-defensive Tyranitar, who Ninetales only has a chance to 2HKO with HP Fighting with a layer of both
SR Stealth Rock and Spikes. Dark Pulse might seem useful for threatening Latios and Latias, but Overheat does almost as much damage in the
sun, and Ninetales is immediately threatened out anyway, making Dark Pulse
superfluous.</p>
<p>Both because Specs Ninetales is easy to trap, and because it requires dangerous prediction to use effectively, a team dependent on
sunlight should pack a reserve Sunny Day user or two while using
it this Ninetales. Sunny Day Bronzong resists both Rock and Ground and is an effective counter for many
sand sweepers as well. On the other hand, Chansey and Blissey with Sunny Day are very good at reining in
rain teams and might be able to occasionally pass Ninetales a Wish in spite of poor synergy. Sunny Day Jirachi has a problematic Fire weakness exacerbated by
the sun as well as a Ground weakness sabotaging
any synergy with Ninetales, but deserves consideration due to
its good mixed bulk and
its ability to threaten Tyranitar
well.</p>
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Drought
Nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>
If Ninetales wishes to surprise incoming weather inducers seeking to counter it, it can take advantage of a Nasty Plot set designed to take them out. Nasty Plot is the ace up Ninetales's sleeve, and this set is well-suited for surprising incoming weather inducers. With hazard support, +2 Ninetales has a good chance of OHKOing Hippowdon, Politoed, or Tyranitar with Fire Blast, Energy Ball, and Hidden Power Fighting respectively, though it will be unable to deal with
specially-bulky versions of Tyranitar or Politoed. If Ninetales has the
weather under its sole control,
then +2 Fire Blast
is will be quite powerful
indeed, and will earn you likely OHKOs against Garchomp and Latios
with SR after Stealth Rock, as well as a 2HKO on
WishBliss Wish Blissey.</p>
<p>This set
has fits experiences problems when the
opposing weather inducer immediately switches out to a resisting, faster Pokemon, and some very dangerous prediction with Fire Blast may be required
to be effective. For example, if Tyranitar switches into Nasty Plot and
you use HP Fighting Ninetales uses Hidden Power in response, Latios could switch into it taking minimal damage and threaten Ninetales out
with nothing gained and Sand on the field.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Hidden Power Fighting is strongly preferred
over Energy Ball for the increased damage on Tyranitar
over Energy Ball, but Hidden Power Ground is an acceptable alternative if you wish to tie base 100
Speed Pokemon.
While one might choose a Modest nature to raise the discouraging damage totals on Specially defensive weather inducers, this is unwise While it's tempting to use a Modest nature to put the hurt on specially-defensive weather inducers, it is unwise to do so because a Modest
nature allows Jolly
Doryuuzu Excadrill to outspeed and easily OHKO Ninetales even in the
sun.</p>
<p>Because of the shaky nature of
Ninetales's KOs in a metagame infested with
specially-defensive SpD heavy Tyranitar and Politoed, heavy hazard support is a virtual requirement for this set. A Wobbuffet to eliminate common fast Dragon switch-ins such as Specs Latios and Scarf Garchomp is also useful, as these
foes will be able to switch into boosted attacks aimed at
weather abusers fairly easily and threaten Ninetales out with OHKOs. Wobbuffet can also trap Scarf versions of Tyranitar and Politoed, which avoid taking boosted attacks by outspeeding Ninetales.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Psycho Shock seems tempting but is actually fairly useless, as Fire Blast hits even targets like Blissey and
Roobushin Conkeldurr much harder in the
sun than Psycho Shock can. Dark Pulse is theoretically available as a
DW Dream World move, and can be paired with Hidden Power Fighting if you desire coverage for
Shandera Chandelure, but
is otherwise
is underwhelming. Solarbeam is a more powerful alternative to Energy Ball
for Grass type coverage, but Tyranitar, Politoed, and Hippowdon are all very important
targets, and that you might need to finish off with an Energy Ball. Even worse, if they switch in while
you Ninetales starts to Solarbeam,
you it will be trapped
by Solarbeam for a turn and possibly OHKOed by any of them. Though Solarbeam is useful once the enemy weather inducer is eliminated, this often doesn't happen until late in the match, and is all the more difficult to
do achieve without Energy Ball.</p>
<p>Other
setup moves are available to Ninetales as well, though they have limited use. Nitro Charge is surprising on
LO Life Orb sets and allows
a Ninetales to beat Deoxys-S,
allowing only one layer preventing it from laying more than one layer of Spikes on the field.
The downside however, is that many things that normally switch into Ninetales that are faster than it are dragons However, many of the speedy switch-ins to Ninetales are Dragons, which Ninetales would have probably been better off maiming with Fire Blast on the switch. Calm Mind is an option as well, but Ninetales is easy to threaten out physically and many of the problems of the Nasty Plot set are only magnified. Protect can be useful for accumulating burn damage, but also gives weather inducers the free chance to switch out to
weather abusers, leaving Ninetales on the field against a sweeper with the wrong weather up.</p>
<p>A Modest nature on the offensive sets offers more power, helping to counter other weather inducers and beat stall, but no longer outspeeding
Doryuuzu Excadrill is a massive problem. Ninetales can OHKO
Doryuuzu Excadrill even with uninvested Flamethrower in the
sunshine, so compromising its ability to revenge one of the most prominent threats of the metagame is rarely worth the benefits of any other nature.</p>
<p>Ninetales could theoretically take advantage of a Choice Scarf, but it already outspeeds most of the other weather inducers that love to switch into it, and
has trouble damaging most of the fast dragons which switch in without a Life Orb or Choice Specs without a Life Orb or Choice Specs Ninetales would have trouble damaging the common speedy Dragon switch-ins.
The problems Choice Scarf sets have with using Will-O-Wisp and being trapped in various ways make them inadvisable with such low upside. A Balloon to avoid Earthquakes for sly switching could be useful, but many Earthquaking Pokemon might
opt instead
to use hit you with Stone Edge and obliterate Ninetales. This option is more palatable if Ninetales is supported by Pokemon weak to Ground, especially Wish Jirachi, or if you especially fear being trapped by Dugtrio.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Blissey and
Evolution Stone Eviolite Chansey wall Ninetales pretty well, and
specially-bulky Waters such as
Burungeru Jellicent and especially Tentacruel will cause massive problems even in the
sun. All of these Pokemon will have problems dealing with Nasty Plot, so if they are specifically troublesome that may be a set to consider. Thick Fat Snorlax is also an issue but very much dislikes being burned by Will-O-Wisp, though Ninetales itself very much dislikes taking Earthquakes from Snorlax, sometimes being 2HKOed by aggressive sets such as
CB Choice Band even if Snorlax is burned first.</p>
<p>Sadly for Ninetales,
the enemy weather inducers tend to be very good counters to it as well. With the weather turned in their favor, Tyranitar and Politoed will take relatively low damage even from Energy Ball or
HP Hidden Power Fighting and can easily OHKO in return.
Physically-bulky Hippowdon designed to take on
Doryuuzu are Excadrill is a much shakier counter, but
SpD specially-defensive versions may be able to come in and wall
some Ninetales with Slack Off or KO back with Earthquake if they are in good health.</p>
<p>Faster
Dragons attempting to counter Ninetales must be wary of the power of Drought Fire Blast, which can do moderate damage through resist even to
threats examples such as Scarf Garchomp and Specs Latios. Defensive Latias can mostly shrug this off however and makes a strong counter. Flash Fire users such as Heatran and
Shandera Chandelure must be handled by Ninetales with care, as allowing them to unleash the power of a Flash Fire Drought STAB Fire Blast is a scary prospect indeed. Most versions of Ninetales carry
WoW Will-O-Wisp, so Wobbuffet should not attempt to trap it unless
it is choiced Ninetales is Choiced, and even then must be wary of the intensity of
Ninetales's Fire STAB in sunlight.
On the other hand, Dugtrio can trap and eliminate almost any Ninetales easily in revenge or if it comes in on a Hidden Power,
and it's only foiled by Balloon or Choice Scarf versions.</p>
