by Today we are going to analyze a Pokémon that I really like: Ninetales Alola , in fact I would say that I like it more than even its original version, but to taste colors (I’m crazy about Ice Pokémon).
It is a brutal Pokémon in my opinion since it is one of those that invoke the weather thanks to its ability. Specifically, the climate of Granizo, which in my opinion is one of the weakest climates, but is still quite good; especially together with a movement that we will see later in the post.
For Hail builds, it’s obviously a must, but that doesn’t mean it’s only good for Hail builds; It’s still a pretty good Pokémon and one that can fit on a lot of teams.
And nothing, that for a change I messed up; Let’s go with his complete analysis and his strategies for Competitive.
? ALOLAN NINETALES STATS
His stats add up to a total of 505 points , so in terms of quantity things don’t start badly. The distribution of him is another story:
- Health: 73.
- Attack: 67.
- Defense: 75.
- Special Attack: 81.
- Special Defense: 100.
- Speed: 109.
You see that it is not a Pokémon that stands out precisely in its statistics. Offensively, it’s not a big deal, neither on the physical nor on the special side, although with the Special Attack it defends a little more, but it’s still a bit low.
Its 109 Speed isn’t bad at all, it’s a somewhat fast Pokémon… but it’s outmatched by a lot of Pokémon and that’s always a problem. Without going any further we have Weavile as an example (which is also Ice and others), which hits much harder and is also much faster (it is paper, yes, everything is said). Let’s not even talk about Darmanitan Galar , that’s not a Pokémon, that’s a bad beast.
Defensively it is also quite meh, except for the Special Defense, which is not so bad in that aspect. Pretty mediocre Defense as well as his health, so we can’t say he’s tough except for the special side.
❄ TYPE ❤️, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES
Alolan Ninetales is an Ice Fairy type , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:
- He is immune to Dragon and freeze status ailment.
- It is resistant to Bug, Sinister and Ice.
- It is weak to Rock, Poison and Fire.
- It is very weak to Steel.
Let’s start with the good. That they can’t freeze us is always cool because it’s the most horrible altered state and immunity to Dragon is also brutal in a meta where there are always Dragons ( Dragapult , Garchomp , Salamence…).
In terms of resistance, it is not to throw a party. They are not too many, although it must be said that those of Ice and Sinister are appreciated; the bug meh, is there, no more.
We don’t have too many weaknesses (relatively, but let Tyranitar tell you hahaha), but be careful because being weak to Fire and Rock is a problem to take into account (especially to rock due to rock trap and others). Veneno’s would not be as relevant, but be careful.
And obviously what weighs him down the most is that x4 weakness to Steel, which although it is not one of the most bloody… a x4 weakness is always something that hurts a lot; and with the defenses that we have at least as standard (you’ll see what this Pokémon has to defend itself later) well, we’re going to eat tremendous delete as they hit us with Steel.
ALOLAN NINETALES ABILITIES
Let’s now see his abilities, although the one that interests us is clearly one of them:
SNOWY MANTLE
Snow Cloak as such is a tremendous ability as during Hail weather opposing Pokémon will have 20% less accuracy when hitting us. Come on, it will be 20% more likely to miss attacks and that’s amazing. It also immunizes us against the damage caused by hail.
Thing is, the next one is too key to pick this one.
SNOWFALL
Nevada is his Hidden Ability and it is the one that is really worth it, it is what I have already mentioned before, the ability with which when going out to the field we directly invoke the Hail , which is a hoot. This climate will give us various advantages such as damaging non-Ice Pokémon or being able to cast Blizzard with 100% accuracy, among other things. But you’ll see later what move we have that will make a brutal combo with this.
IVS, EVS AND NATURE
The perfect Iv’s, as usual… let’s go with the EV’s and Nature. It could be made offensive by putting it like this:
- EV’s : The expected if we want it offensive, all in Special Attack and Speed, the rest in Special Defense.
- Nature : Fearful (+Speed, -Attack). The Attack does not interest us, but being faster obviously does.
But I prefer to make it Defensive:
- EV’s : All in Health and Defense, the rest in Special Defense.
- Nature : Calm (+Special Defense, -Attack).
RECOMMENDED ITEM
Normally I would make a list with several objects, but in this case I see a very clear one: Reflectlight . This will allow us to make the Hail weather last longer, 8 turns, and it will be fantastic both for our Alolan Ninetales and to take advantage of it with other Pokémon that can take advantage of it.
BEST MOVES FOR ALOLAN NINETALES
The movements that I recommend the most for Ninetales Alola:
- Aurora Veil : Movement that can only be used with Hail weather and will cause us to receive half damage for 5 turns.
- Lyophilization : STAB Ice, Special, 70 power and 100% accuracy. We will have a 10% chance to freeze and we will also hit the Water Type very effectively. Remember that Ice is good against Grass, Ground, Flying and Dragon. In this case also Water, brutal.
- Blizzard : STAB Ice, Special, 110 power, 70% accuracy, and has a 10% chance to freeze. Tremendous power, lousy accuracy; but in Hail we will have 100% accuracy, so be careful.
- Lunar Force : STAB Fairy, Special, 95 power, 100% accuracy and we will have a 30% chance to reduce the target’s Special Attack by 1 level. Our best fairy offensive move, remember it will be good against Dragon, Fighting and Dark.
- Divide Pain : It will equalize your health with that of the target (ideal if you are low on Health and your enemy is very high to heal you and in the process take the life of the other). Tremendous, but we don’t have it in 8th generation.
- Drain Kiss : STAB Fairy, Special, 50 power, 100% accuracy. We will restore 75% of the damage we cause, so it will be great for healing.
ALOLAN NINETALES STRATEGIES
I will set up an offensive and a defensive strategy, I will eat your defense:
DEFENSIVE ALOLAN NINETALES
- IVs: Perfect.
- EVs: All in Health and Defense, the rest in Special Defense.
- Nature: Serene.
- Object: Reflection.
- Ability: Snowfall.
- Movements:
- Aurora veil.
- Lyophilization.
- Moon Force. Optional: Divide Pain (not in 8th gen).
- Kiss Drain.
The idea of entering the field at a good time and throwing Aurora Veil to become super tanks (watch out for weaknesses anyway). We have movements with good coverage to damage enemies and Drainage Kiss to damage and heal us (the cure will be quite hardcore, especially if you hit an enemy weak to Fairy). If we have to switch at least Aurora Veil will be active to support the Pokémon you bring out.
Be careful because against Steel we are quite sold.
ALOLAN NINETALES OFFENSIVE
- IVs: Perfect.
- EVs: All in Special Attack and Speed, the rest in Special Defense.
- Nature: Fearful.
- Object: Reflection.
- Ability: Snowfall.
- Movements:
- Aurora veil.
- Lyophilization.
- Blizzard.
- Moon Force.
Again the idea will be to go in and pull Aurora Veil to resist much more, also we will be quite fast so it will be more likely to start first. Otherwise we have pretty good coverage, Blizzard will wreak havoc with Hail weather and we still have Freeze Dry in case any Water type shows up or the change is foreseeable. Lunar Force also hits pretty hard, and as with the previous strategy, we’ll still have good support from Veil Aurora even if we switch to Alolan Ninetales.
HOW TO DEFEAT ALOLAN NINETALES AND COUNTERS
And now the opposite, what should we do to defeat Alolan Ninetales and some of their counters:
- Steel-types : Weakness x4 to steel attacks and nothing really solid to hit them well (which will depend on the subtype but come on, you know), it will be easy to defeat him in these circumstances.
- Change of Weather : To become really dangerous you must activate Aurora Veil and to do so you will have to spend a turn, if you have a Pokémon that changes the weather for another when entering (see a Pelipper ) you are going to annoy it a lot because in addition to taking away the weather, the Aurora Veil will fail.
- Offensive Fire Pokémon : Typical fast, offensive Fire Pokémon will also be very effective. A very good example would of course be Cinderace .
