SPECTRAL RIDER CALYREX STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Today we bring you this strategy of one of the best Pokémon in history, a beast that you should know well: Spectral Rider Calyrex .

Since its appearance in Competitive, Calyrex has been one of the most polarizing Competitive Pokémon seen, being able to win only one game if we don’t have an answer for it. We are going to show you its characteristics, what sets are being played in both singles and doubles and we will give you an idea of how to counter it.

Before we begin, let it be clear that Calyrex Ghostrider is not available in all formats due to its tremendous power. In Singles it is in the UBER category, that category where the most broken things go. While in doubles it is usable in the most used format (VGC).

CALYREX-SHADOW STATISTICS

His stats add up to a total of 680 points , which is obviously outrageous, after all he is a major legendary:

Life: 100
Attack: 85
Defense: 80
Special Attack: 165
Special Defense: 100
Speed: 150

Statistically we are facing one of the best Pokémon ever created. Good health stat at 100, it allows it to take more damage than many other offensive Pokémon, and with its 165 Special Attack, a real bullshit and 150 Speed, it not only hits hard, but is faster than Dragapult , Zeraora and eternal.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Spectral Rider Calyrex is a Ghost and Psychic Type :

He is immune to Fighting and Normal.
It is resistant to Poison and Psychic.
It is very weak to Dark and Ghost.

The combination of its two types gives us a Pokémon with two x4 weaknesses, Ghost and Dark, types that although they are not the most common in terms of Pokémon… they are very common in coverage moves!

It also gives us two immunities, Fighting and Normal, which is interesting especially in singles, where it can give us a change for sure if we predict an attack of said types. It also has resistance to Poison and Psychic.

His typing is very important as he has access to two of the best offensive moves we have, as we’ll see later.

ABILITY: EQUESTRIAN UNIT

This Ability gives this Pokémon access to the effects of the Abilities Nervousness (which stops enemy Pokémon from using Berries) and Black Neigh (which increases Calyrex’s Special Attack by one stage when weakening an enemy Pokémon). And yes, it’s as broken as it sounds.

NATURE, IV’S AND EV’S

The stats this Pokemon uses are very standard.

The perfect IV’s.
Fearful Nature (+Spd/-Attack)
Ev’s: 4 HP / 252 SpAt / 252 Speed

Fast and deadly. Those 4 Ev’s that we have left can also be used for Esp or Def, but we recommend you in HP because it is more consistent.

RECOMMENDED ITEMS

We bring you 4 options for the Calyrex Spectral Rider item:

Focus Band : It is the most common and consistent object in Calyrex, if the enemy has a response like a Pokémon with its own Focus Band, we will withstand the blow and we can knock it down in the next turn. If he uses Scarf of Choice to be faster and wear us down fast, we’ll hold and take him down on the same turn.
Election Scarf : It is a very interesting option, because by drastically increasing our speed we will be able to weaken other Spectral Rider Calyrex before it hits us. Be careful because this locks us into only using one move once we use it! We’ll see that this gives us a trick later.
Choice Glasses : Gives us even more damage, which can be surprising by weakening Pokemon we deal neutral damage to. Be careful because this locks us into only using one move once we use it! And in the same way, we will see a little trick that this gives us.
Lifesphere : It is, in my opinion, the second best option for Calyrex Ghostrider. It gives us very high damage without locking us into any moves, and makes support moves, like Scream, have very respectable damage.

BEST MOVES FOR SPECTRAL CALYREX

Let’s go through the best moves for Calyrex Ghost Rider and then we’ll show you which sets, singles and doubles, we use each one in!

Specter Orbs : STAB Ghost, Special, 120 Potency, 100% Accuracy and hits all enemies. Calyrex’s signature move Ghost Rider. Ghost-typing is very effective against Ghost and Psychic.
Psocharge : STAB Psychic, Special, 80 Potency, 100% Accuracy. But it uses the opponent’s Defense stat to calculate damage, rather than Special Defense, which can surprise Pokemon with EV SpDef or the Assault Vest item. The Psychic type is very effective against Fighting and Poison.
Trick : This is the “trick” we mentioned in the items section. This movement exchanges the objects of the enemy Pokémon with ours. This way we can lock enemy Pokémon into a move, or take that key item from the enemy!
Scheming : This movement raises our AtEsp by two levels, we can use it in a turn where our Spectral Rider Calyrex is not in danger, or is so dangerous for the opponent that he is going to make a change of Pokémon. With 2 more levels in our AtEsp there aren’t many Pokémon that can take a hit from our ghost knight.
Vast Strength : STAB Psychic, Special. 80 power, 100% accuracy that increases its damage by 50% if used with psychic field active. In Singles this move doesn’t have as much use because it’s more difficult to have the Psychic terrain active, but as we’ll see in How to Play It, in doubles it’s much easier.
Protection : This movement is very useful in doubles, it protects us from everything that is going to hit us and protects a percentage of the enemy’s Dynamax attacks) – Fatuous Fire: This status movement puts the enemy in a Burned state, which reduces its damage physical by 50%.
Mud Shot : Ground-type coverage move. It doesn’t hit very hard, 55 power, but it lowers the enemy’s speed by one level, and can be very useful against Zacian or Regieleki, also dealing x2 damage. The Ground-type is very effective against Rock, Fire, Steel, Poison, and Electric.

STRATEGIES FOR CALYREX SPECTRAL RIDER IN SINGLES

Let’s start with the strategies for singles:

CALYREX SPECTRAL RIDER SINGLES SCARF

We show you the most broken way to use it, in our opinion. We will enhance its speed and give you two movements to give the surprise.

IV’s: Perfect.
Ev´s: 252 in AtEsp, 252 in Speed and 4 in Life.
Nature: Fearful.
Item: Election Handkerchief.
Ability: Equestrian Unit.
Movements:
- Specter Orbs
- Psychocharge
- Trick
- Machination

It is important with this strategy to identify if we are going to need to speed up any Pokémon that represent a threat, being these an enemy Spectral Rider Calyrex, Regieleki or another Pokémon with Choice Scarf like Yveltal that with a Dark Attack would weaken our Calyrex.

If these threats are not there, or we can cover them with another Pokémon, doing a trick to wax the Enemy Pokémon can cause a forced switch, or the use of its only coverage (which if it is a ghost we can take advantage of to put a Normal Pokémon). As soon as we lock him up, and we have Calyrex safe… Machining and breaking people!

CALYREX BAND FOCUS SINGLES

This strategy is very similar, although more versatile and with a very useful coverage move.

IV’s: Perfect.
Ev’s: 252 in AtEsp.
252 in Speed.
4 in Life.
Nature: Fearful.
Object: Focus Band.
Ability: Equestrian Unit.
Movements:
- Specter Orbs.
- Psychocharge.
- Mud shot.
- Machination.

With this strategy we lose the possibility of that object change and speed, in exchange for resisting those blows that will knock us down in a turn, mostly from Yveltal, and we also gain a coverage move with which to do damage to Regieleki and Zacian, lowering his speed too. Here we have a more versatile Pokémon , although less surprising. And that he can respond to both the aforementioned Yveltal and Xerneas in case he has to tank a hit!

STRATEGY FOR CALYREX IN DOUBLES (VGC)

Here we are going to see what strategies we recommend in double VGC, where Calyrex is one of the 2 restricted Pokémon that you can carry in your team. As we’ve already said, he’s a terrific sweeper that’s going to have a big presence at Worlds in August.

CALYREX + INDEEDEE FEMALE

IV’s: Perfect.
Ev’s: 252 in AtEsp, 252 in Speed and 4 in Life.
Nature: Fearful.
Object: Focus Band.
Ability: Equestrian Unit.
Movements:
- Specter Orbs.
- Vast Force.
- Change Speed/Mud Shot.
- Protection.

This couple works great. Indeedee Female puts the psychic field on entering the game, so our Vast Strength will be devastating. Also, it’s Normal-type, and access to the Decoy move makes individual Ghost-type moves unusable.

And just in case we were missing something, Indeedee also learns Reinforcement, so a Wraith Orb, Vast Force or Mud Shot will wreak havoc on the opposing team. And not only that! Indeedee F’s field prevents Ursifu Rush’s Cheap Shot usage, which can destroy our Ghostrider Calyrex.

The inclusion of a possible Speed Changer is for cases where we get a Rare Space, we can change to another slow Pokémon on our team and acquire its speed, or even from our IndeedeeF if we train it to have minimum speed.

HOW TO DEFEAT CALYREX SPECTRAL RIDER AND COUNTERS

Stopping Calyrex Ghostrider is a difficult task. Being so fast and hitting so hard, it is a Pokémon that breaks games very quickly.

Yveltal and gruff Urshifu : These two Dark-type Pokémon are very good options against Calyrex, especially Yveltal, because in addition to weakening Calyrex in one hit, it is a Pokémon that lasts a long time. Ursifu’s option is very interesting as it doesn’t take up one of the two restricted slots in VGC. If you want to have a cover answer, remember its two x4 weaknesses to Ghost and Dark.
Low Blow : It is very interesting to have priority. Making a direct switch when we see its Spectral Orbs attack coming to a normal-type Pokémon can be decisive, as it can get locked in it, forcing you to switch it on the next turn (speaking of singles!)