PRIMARINA STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Today we bring a new Competitive Pokemon guide for a starter. The spectacular Seventh Generation mermaid: Primarina .

Seventh left us one of the best Competitive Pokémon ever with its fire starter Incineroar and its direct opposite shares many of the strengths. Great guy, good abilities, efficient spread of his stats, and versatility with his strategies. Primarina is a fantastic Pokémon to add to your competitive teams, be it Singles or Doubles.

We are going to see what its strengths and weaknesses are and how to get the most out of it.

? PRIMARINA STATS

His stats add up to a total of 530 points , of which 456 are his effective points (when discounting Attack):

• Health: 80.
• Attack: 74.
• Defense: 74.
• Special Attack: 126.
• Special Defense: 116.
• Speed: 60.

Let’s start; its lackluster Health and Defense stats are offset by its great Special Attack and notable Special Defense, though its Speed ​​has a stat that leaves it in no man’s land, nor is it a Pokémon that’s going to be faster than other Attackers, nor it is so slow as to be decisive in Trick Space.

Like other starters like Charizard or Greninja, it is the set of its parts that gives us a magnificent Competitive Pokémon. Let’s see the rest.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Primarina is a Water/Fairy-Type , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

• He is immune to Dragon.
• Resistant to Fire, Water, Ice, Fight, Bug and Dark.
• Weak to Electric, Grass and Poison.
• It is not very weak to anything.

Dragon immunity makes it a very useful switch against Dragons, those annoying Dragapults and Garchomps .

Its 6 resistances make it a very difficult Pokémon to remove, especially against Dark and Fire, which also deals a lot of damage with its STAB moves.

Let’s take a look at its weaknesses:

• Electric : We’ll see later that we don’t have answers for this guy, so be especially careful here. Magnezone is one of the most dangerous in OU Singles, while Regieleki is generally a threat to watch out for in VGC Doubles.
• Plant : This type is very awkward, being Ferrothorn in OU Singles and Rillaboom in VGC Doubles.
• Poison : This is another weakness where we will have an answer, although Pokémon like Slowking-Galar in OU Singles and Venusaur in VGC Doubles are very notable threats.

PRIMARINA ABILITIES

Both of Primarina’s abilities have their niche and both are useful in any format, although in strategies we will show you what preferences we have.

TORRENT

Increases the power of Water-type moves by 50% when your Pokémon has 1/3 or less Health.

FLUENT VOICE (HIDDEN ABILITY)

This ability changes the type of the moves from sound to Water type . This makes Loudmouth STAB and deals massive damage.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

• IV´s : Perfect, except if we are going to use Trick Space that we will raise our mermaid with 0 in Speed.
• EV’s : Pretty simple; 252 Health, 252 Special Attack, and the rest for Speed ​​or Defense.
• Nature : Modest is our best option (-Attack, +Special At), but if we go to Trick Space we will use Meek (+Special At, – Speed) to get the least speed possible.

RECOMMENDED ITEM

These are the most recommended items for Primarina:

• Assault Vest : Increases our Special Defense in exchange for only using damage moves.
• Zidra Berry : The safest object, it will recover 1/4 of Health when it falls below 50%.
• Lifesphere: Increases the damage produced by 30% and damages our Pokémon for 10% of its life. Thanks to this item, our siren will be able to weaken many Pokémon in one hit.
• Election Glasses : Increases the power of special movements by 50%, but the movement we use will be the only one we can use while the Pokémon does not return to the ball.
• Leftovers: The Pokémon recovers 1/16 of its total Health Points at the end of the turn. In strategies to lengthen the game (Stall) it can be very useful.

BEST MOVES FOR PRIMARINA

The movements that I recommend the most for Primarina:

• Lunar Force : STAB Fairy, Special, 95 power and 10% accuracy. Great move that has a 30% chance to lower the target’s Special Attack level by one level. Very effective against Dragon, Fighting and Dark.
• Aria Bubble : STAB Water, Special, 90 power and 100% accuracy. Heals the target of Burn (watch out if you’ve burned someone). It is a safe option that we will use in Singles. Very effective against Fire, Rock and Earth.
• Bigmouth : STAB Water (Thanks to Fluent Voice), Special, 90 power and 100% accuracy. Hit both opponents. A great option in Doubles.
• Energy Ball : Grass, Special, 90 power and 100% accuracy. With a 10% chance of lowering the opponent’s Special Defense. Cover move for those Ground, Rock, and Water types.
• Hidden Power (Fire) : Movement that will have a type depending on our IV’s and we will take it as Fire, Special, with 60 power and 100% accuracy. Very effective against Steel, Bug, Ice and Grass. It’s our answer in Singles against Pokémon like Ferrothorn .
• Psychic : Psychic, Special, 90 power and 100% accuracy. With a 10% chance of lowering the opponent’s Special Defense. Our coverage for Fight and Poison.
• Shadow Ball: Ghost, Special, 80 power and 100% accuracy. Very effective against Ghost and Psychic.
• Death Song : Status move that causes all Pokémon present in battle to weaken after three turns unless they return to the Ball. Great move to end games.
• Aqua Jet : Water STAB, Physical, 40 power and 100% accuracy. Attack with priority. While it doesn’t do good damage being physical and underpowered, it does have its uses; in Singles to finish off faster Pokémon and in Doubles to activate Insurance Weakness of our partner Pokémon.

PRIMARINA STRATEGIES

Primarina’s offensive power is its best asset, but due to its low speed we must know how to play with it so that it can do massive damage. For this, our strategies will take a lot of Health to withstand those first blows and be able to attack back.

PRIMARINA ATACANTE (SWEEPER) – SINGLES

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Health. 252 in Special Attack. 4 in Speed
• Nature: Modest.
• Item: Assault Vest/Choice Goggles/Lifesphere.
• Ability: Torrent.
• Movements:
  • Moon Force.
  • Bubble Aria.
  • Psychic/Aqua Jet.
  • Hidden Power Fire.

Unlike other Attacking Pokémon, we don’t max out Primarina’s speed here. This is due to its base 60 in this stat, because no matter how much we improve it, it will not be faster than many of its threats, so it is better to choose to improve its defensive side.

With this set, Primarina can withstand hits well thanks to its high Health, but the choice of item is crucial :

• Assault Vest : When we want our Primarina to last longer on the Special Defense side, we will use this item. Especially to cover ourselves with Pokémon like Tapu Koko or Zapdos . If we opt for this, we will not carry Death Song.
• Choice Glasses : The damage increase will make our little mermaid able to shred Pokémon even on neutral damage, but it will lock us into a move and we will lose adaptability.
• Life Orb – When we have good changes in our team and can protect our Fairy well, Life Orb is a great offensive option.

Hidden Power Fire is fantastic against the aforementioned Ferrothorn, but it’s also fantastic against the  likes of Scizor and Kartana. This move is very surprising and will give us many games.

PRIMARINA – VGC DOUBLES

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Health. 124 in Defense. 124 in Special Attack. 4 in Special Defense. 4 in Speed
• Nature: Modest.
• Item: Life Sphere/Assault Vest.
• Ability: Fluent Voice.
• Movements:
  • Moon Force.
  • Vozarron.
  • Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Deadly Song.
  • Protection/Deadly Chant/Energy Ball.

Primarina is capable of dealing enough damage to wear down many enemies, but it does have its weak spots. In this set there is something that we must be clear about: we need a partner . Pokémon with access to Lure like Togekiss or Rage Powder like Amoonguss are excellent options to protect our Pokémon. Other Pokémon with Reinforcement like Umbreon can also be very useful for our Pokémon to be able to weaken the opposing team. Another option is to set up a Pokémon that threatens Primarina’s most awkward opponents, such as Incineroar .

Mortal Song is a trick that you are going to love. When the opponent has only two Pokémon left, as long as we have 3 or more left, all we have to do is use Death Song and last 3 turns singing “under the maaarrrr”. Victoria makes it easy.

*Remember that if we opt for Assault Vest we will not use Death Song or Protection.

PRIMARINA IN RARE SPACE – SINGLES OR VGC

• IVs: Perfect less in Speed ​​that we will use 0.
• EVs: 252 Health, 4 Defense and 252 Special Attack.
• Nature: Gentle.
• Object: Life Sphere.
• Ability: Fluent Voice.
• Movements:
  • Moon Force.
  • Vozarron.
  • Energy Ball/Aqua Jet/Shadow Ball.
  • Protection/Deadly Song.

Both of Primarina’s abilities are viable on this set, but we’ve opted for Flowing Voice since we’re looking to always use it in Trick Space so it hits earlier, trying not to lose too much health and therefore not getting as much out of Torrent.

Acua Jet, as in the first set, will be to finish off outside Rare Space and activate our Weakness Insurance in doubles.

Protection on this set is more important as it is always slower than most Pokemon outside of Trick Room.

HOW TO DEFEAT PRIMARINA AND COUNTERS

Primarina is a great Pokémon with a tremendous offensive capacity, but its Defenses and Speed ​​are points that we can attack. Let’s see how:

• Super Effective Hits : Hitting with Poison, Grass, and Electric is the best way to weaken Primarina, which, being a slow Pokemon, will take hits before you can hit it. Recommended options are Pokémon such as Rillaboom and Regieleki.
• Scream : With Scream we will lower Primarina’s Special Attack, reducing its impact. The best option is for them to be faster and not weak to Primarina; Suicune and Weavile are fantastic options.
• Vast Guard : This move protects both Pokémon from moves that hit both opponents, like Vozarron. This is only useful in doubles and is very effective, as most Primarinas in VGC spam this move.