Sets
Speed Boost Sweeper
- Item Held
- Life Orb / Expert Belt
- Ability
- Speed Boost
- Nature
- Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Special Attack – 252 Speed – 6 HP / Defense
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Ice / Psychic
- Protect
When your opponent’s Pokémon that can take on Yanmega are taken out,
this annoying bug can sweep their team quite easily. Protect on the first
turn, allowing the first Speed Boost to kick in and let you outspeed virtually
anything. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are here for STAB. Bug Buzz destroys Psychic
types, particularly Celebi, and Air Slash easily OHKOs Infernape, Heracross
and Breloom while dealing some decent damage to other Fighting-types like
Machamp. Also, a 30% chance to flinch your opponent’s Pokémon is always
welcome. Hidden Power Ground lets you hit the Steel-types that would otherwise
wall you, especially Heatran and Magnezone who both get OHKOed. Hidden Power
Ice is for Salamence, Garchomp and co. If you cannot get either Hidden Power,
Psychic is the best replacement, but Steel-types still wall you.
A little note about the suggested Effort Points. Unlike what happens with
most Pokémon, those 4 EPs (or 6) really matter. You have to make sure that
your HP stat is an odd number so that Yanmega can survive two switch-ins with
Stealth Rock in play. So, where to place those last EPs depends on your HP
IV.
Reversal
- Item Held
- Liechi Berry
- Ability
- Speed Boost
- Nature
- Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Attack – 252 Speed – 6 HP / Defense
- Endure / Substitute
- Reversal
- Night Slash
- Hypnosis / Protect
Reversal Yanmega here. Sure, there are better Reversalers out there
but Yanmega’s Speed Boost ability make it a quite good one too. Endure their
hit, become faster, activate Liechi and sweep with that overpowered Reversal.
Night Slash is for those stupid Ghosts that think they can ruin your fun.
Hypnosis prevents their Physical Wall from using a recovery move. However,
with Sandstorm being everywhere in the current OU metagame, Yanmega has to
face some problems that other Reversalers (Scizor, Lucario) get away with. So,
replacing Endure with Substitute is not a bad idea as it can reach the
Reversal range with more safety. But faster Pokémon like Aerodactyl become a
real pain now, so adding Protect instead of Hypnosis will help. (The same note
about EPs applies here too.)
Other Possible Options
Using Hypnosis instead of Protect on the first set could work but it’s kind of
risky. Other Hidden Power types can be used for taking down Pokémon 4x weak to
them, like Hidden Power Electric for Gyarados or Hidden Power Fighting for
Tyranitar (which is not recommended at all as Bug Buzz 2HKOs the mighty
dinosaur), but their use is always situational at best. U-Turn is Yanmega’s
only other good option for hitting and fleeing immediately.
As far as items go, stuffing a Choice Specs on Yanmega seems like a good
idea at first but it isn’t. Choice item users have to switch a lot and with
Stealth Rock chipping away 50% of Yanmega’s HP every time it switches in, it
will die really easily making it a worse-than-average Choice Specs user.
Counters
Unless Reversal is in the set, Blissey will freely switch in and start singing
“Can’t Touch This”. If Yanmega lacks Hidden Power Ground, Heatran comes in and
KOs with any STABed Fire-type move. So does Magnezone with Electric-type
moves. Empoleon can do the job too with Ice Beam. Skarmory can get some hits
and either Whirlwind Yanmega away or just attack with Drill Peck/Brave Bird.
However, Skarmory just hates being flinched by Air Slash.
Moreover, any Rock-type move will OHKO Yanmega but it won’t be easy to land
a hit with its Speed Boost ability. Stealth Rock also ruins Yanmega’s plans as
said above.
Opinion & Notes
Yanma was just a mediocre Underused Pokémon in Advance but its evolved form is
much better. Better stats, more moves, Special STABs, Night Slash, Hypnosis’
improved accuracy, Life Orb, Expert Belt… So many new additions that can set
it in the upper Borderline tier and even let it sweep some OU teams. However,
using Yanmega with Rapid Spin support is essential, otherwise Stealth Rock
will stop you. But still, I suppose a Pokémon that can 2HKO Tyranitar and
Cresselia and OHKO Heracross and Infernape is really worth a spot in a
competitive team.