TINKATON STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Tinkaton is a Pokémon with an exaggeratedly high capacity to destroy and that very few Pokémon will be able to resist a blow to it, therefore it plays a very good role as a Wall Breaker (a typical Pokémon that destroys Tanks).

When you see his Attack stat (it’s physical) you’ll be surprised by what I’m telling you, but your doubts will be dispelled when you see his entire kit and especially when you see his exclusive move, which has a LOT of damage.

The pity is that they have made it so that it does not quite work as a Sweeper (fast and powerful Pokémon) since the “choice items” do not go well with its tremendous movement and it does not have enough Speed ​​​​to play this role well. But… even if it’s not that fast, it’s still a devastating machine.

His stats total 506 points , which is above the 500 minimum we usually recommend, so he’s pretty good.

• Health: 85.
• Attack: 75.
• Defense: 77.
• Special Attack: 70.
• Special Defense: 105.
• Speed: 94.

His stat spread isn’t particularly appealing, though we quickly see that 105 Special Defense cover him well on that defensive end. Health is pretty good and Defense is pretty mediocre, so despite being fairly covered by the special side, we couldn’t call it a defensive Pokémon.

Offensively, it has good Speed, which does not mean that it is outclassed by many Pokémon such as Pawmot , Dragapult or  Talonflame . Regarding Attack and Special Attack, it is normal, the truth is, what we are interested in is the physical Attack and it does not have it higher because then this Pokémon would be broken ; keep reading and you will see.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Skeledirge is a Steel Fairy-Type  just like Mawile or Zacian , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

• He is immune to Dragon and Poison.
• It is very resistant to Bug.
• It is resistant to Dark, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Rock, Psychic, Normal, and Ice.
• It is weak to Earth and Fire.

The Steel Fairy combination is tremendous as you can see. We have 2 immunities, not exaggeratedly relevant, but immunities are always appreciated a lot; In addition, we will also be immune to the Poison status ailment.

We have an exaggerated amount of resistances, something that added to the immunities, makes this Pokémon resist many things effectively.

Regarding weaknesses, only 2, but it is true that they are somewhat bloody. Earth has always stood out for its high presence in competitive because it is a tremendous type (see Garchomp or Excadrill for example) and Fire is to be feared because it usually has quite powerful Pokémon like Ceruledge or Cinderace .

TINKATON’S ABILITIES

Now let’s see his skills to comment on the ones that seem most relevant to us:

MOLD BREAKER

The Pokémon will ignore most of the defensive abilities of the opposing Pokémon such as “Absorb element x” (those that give you immunity to a certain element), Levitation, Shell… etc. The ones that protect you in some sense, come on.

Very interesting for a role of Rompemuros or Wallbreaker . If you don’t understand these terms, take a look at this post .

OWN RHYTHM

Very interesting since it gives the Pokémon immunity to confusion and what is more important, also to intimidation, something that will come in handy especially in Doubles or VGC due to the high presence of that ability.

THEFT

We don’t like it too much since we would have to carry Tinkaton without an object. The case, what it does is that when the rival makes a contact attack to our Pokémon, we will steal the object from him. The effect itself is fine, but we’d rather carry the item we want and rely on them giving us a contact attack to steal the item is too dependent and therefore not interesting.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

The perfect Iv’s as almost always, regarding the EV’s and Nature:

• EV’s : 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Defense.
• Nature : Firm (+ Attack, – Special Attack).

We are going to strengthen his offensive side and shoot on the physical side, you will see later why we have made this decision.

RECOMMENDED ITEM

These are the objects that I recommend for Tinkaton:

• Life Orb : Increases damage dealt by 30%, but you lose 10% of total health when attacking.
• Assault Vest : Increases Special Defense by 50%, but prevents us from using status moves. Highly recommended for VGC or Doubles.

COLOSSAL HAMMER: HIS SIGNATURE MOVE

• STAB Steel.
• 160 Power… yes, yes, no joke.
• 100 Accuracy… no joke either.
• It cannot be used 2 times in a row.

What could I say about Colossal Hammer that isn’t obvious? 160 power with 100% accuracy on top of it (and STAB on top of it) is absolute bullshit and is probably one of the best moves in any Pokémon . That is why we mentioned that this Pokémon does not have a high Attack, since if it did, it would destroy everything in its path.

The pity is that we cannot spam the movement since we cannot hit twice in a row; which makes it infeasible to wear with a Choice Band or Bandana (which would have been wonderful).

BEST MOVES FOR TINKATON

The movements that I recommend the most for Tinkaton:

• Colossal Hammer : It’s definitely broken. Steel is very effective against Fairy, Ice, and Rock. It will destroy Pokemon like Tyranitar and other fairies like Azumarill or Blissey.
• Sweetheart : STAB Fairy, Physical, 90 power, 90% accuracy, and a 10% chance to lower the target’s Attack. Our best move of Fairy, remember that Fairy is my effective against Dragon, Dark and Fight. Very good option against Pokémon like Salamence or Pawmot.
• Ice Hammer : Ice STAB, Physical, 100 power, 90% accuracy and will lower our Speed, so watch out for that. Great coverage move that until now has only belonged to Crabominable. Ice will cover us against Dragon (better to roll Fairy moves for these), Earth (one of our weaknesses), Grass and Flying. It will be great against Pokemon like Amoonguss or Hippowdon .
• Rock Edge : Rock, Physical, 100 power, 80% accuracy and has a high chance to critically hit. Good coverage especially for Fire ( Arcanine , Charizard , Talonflame…).
• Avalanche : Rock, Physical, 75 power, 90% accuracy, and a 30% chance to knock the target back. Stronger Rock option with Bandana and for those who grate a lot about 80% accuracy (which is normal too) of Sharp Rock.
• Sword Dance : It will increase our Attack 2 times. Tremendous boost for after putting it to sweep the rival team.
• Surprise : Normal, Physical, 40 power, 100% accuracy, priority +1 (you attack first) and always pushes the enemy back (if you’re faster, of course). You can only use it the turn you enter the battle (first turn you bring out the Pokémon, activates with each switch). Very good option to win a turn in singles (if we are faster) or to nullify a rival Pokémon during a turn in Doubles or VGC.
• Protection : Status, priority +3. Protects us from damage we take that turn. If we use it 2 times in a row, it has a 50% chance of failing the second time, so it is advisable to never use it 2 times in a row. Very good, as always, for Doubles.
• Substitute : We lose a little health, but we will put a substitute on the field who will take the hits for us.

TINKATON STRATEGIES

Here are some example strategies that we consider ideal for this Pokémon in different formats.

TINKATON ROMPEMUROS (SINGLES)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Health, 252 Speed, 4 Defense.
• Nature: Firm (+Attack, -Special Attack).
• Item: Life Orb / Assault Vest
• Skill: Breaker.
• Movements:
  • Colossal Hammer
  • carantoña
  • ice hammer
  • Sharp Rock / Sword Dance

Colossal Hammer for obvious reasons will be our greatest asset since with this kit it will be a tremendous blow that few Pokémon will resist unless they resist Steel. The rest is pure coverage, what a piece of coverage we have at our disposal, I also tell you.

As a Wall Breaker, the idea is to use it to break very resistant Pokémon , since these are usually slow and therefore our Speed ​​is not so decisive. Sword Dance is optional if you want the boost, but you would lose Rock coverage.

The idea is to carry Life Orb to hit very hard, but if another Pokémon already has it you can throw Assault Vest and that way you will be very covered by the special side.

TINKATON SUPPORT SWEEPER (DOUBLES OR VGC)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Health, 104 Attack, 116 Defense and 36 Speed.
• Nature: Firm (+Attack, -Special Attack).
• Item: Assault Vest.
• Skill: Breaker.
• Movements:
  • Surprise
  • Colossal Hammer
  • carantoña
  • Disarm / Earthquake / Avalanche

Colossal Hammer and Face are our two best STAB, especially the aforementioned massive damage from Hammer. Surprise will give us a priority attack that usually forces a Protection of the rival, leaving it exposed to our Hammer Blow the next turn. Finally we have the choice to taste:

• Disarm : Dark Damage that also removes the opponent’s item
• Earthtremor : Fantastic option against very fast Pokémon, since it will lower their speed by one level.
• Avalanche : This is to cover the matchup against Charizard.

TINKATON TERACRYSTALLIZATION

• Teracrystallization Steel .

In the face of Teracrystallization there is no doubt, we want the Steel one to further increase the damage of the powerful Colossal Hammer … let’s see who is capable of resisting such a tremendous blow. You can already imagine the tremendous blow next to the double STAB of Steel that Teracrystallization gives us, you will delete.

HOW TO DEFEAT TINKATON AND COUNTERS

And now on the contrary, what to do to defeat Tinkaton and some of his counters:

• Burn : The burn will greatly reduce our offense and practically disables us. Be careful with Will-o’-the-wisp ( Chandelure  or Skeledirge for example) and against most Fire Pokémon.
• Fastest Pokémon that 1HKO it : Fast and powerful Pokémon that can hit with one of our weaknesses. Be careful against Pokémon like Talonflame, Darmanitan or Groudon .
• Toxapex : You have no way to defeat him and attrition would end up winning him.