Sets
Nasty Plot Sweeper
- Item Held
- Life Orb
- Nature
- Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Special Attack – 252 Speed – 6 HP
Many Fire-type Pokémon would love to have Nasty Plot in their arsenal but Ninetales is one of the few that can actually get it. And if you can get it, you should abuse it, that should go without saying. Once their Special Wall is taken down, use Nasty Plot and start incinerating whatever comes your way with Life Orb boosting your hits even more. Energy Ball covers Ninetales’ weaknesses to Water, Ground and Rock, scaring off Pokémon like Golem and Quagsire. Hypnosis is there in case you can’t face something and works quite well with Ninetales’ high Speed.
Choice Specs Sweeper
- Item Held
- Choice Specs
- Nature
- Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Special Attack – 252 Speed – 6 HP
- Overheat
- Dark Pulse
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Electric
If you prefer straightforward sweeping, a Choice Specs set is the way to go. With Overheat, Ninetales deals ridiculously high amounts of damage for a UU Pokémon, especially if you manage to activate its ability, Flash Fire. Dark Pulse hits the most common Walls in UU, Hypno and Grumpig. Energy Ball is for type coverage once again. Finally, if you are afraid of Altaria, go with Hidden Power Ice. If Mantine is the problem, go with Hidden Power Electric.
Other Possible Options
Fire Blast can be used over Flamethrower for more power. Will-O-Wisp is definitely useful but Hypnosis is even better most of the time. A double-status set is possible though. Confuse Ray can be used for annoying the opponent and Fire Spin for trapping them. Finally, Ninetales has access to Grudge, a fantastic move but it’s hard to use it effectively. However, reducing Mantine’s Surf or Hypno’s Psychic to 0 is not bad at all.
Counters
Already mentioned once or twice, Ninetales’ UU counters are Hypno, Grumpig, Mantine and Altaria. Hypno is immune to Hypnosis, can set Light Screen, can use Thunder Wave and cripple Ninetales but fears Dark Pulse. Grumpig’s Thick Fat gives it a handy Fire resistance but it also fears Dark Pulse. Altaria’s only worry is Hidden Power Ice, if it’s absent, it can easily beat Ninetales. Same goes for Mantine except it is afraid of Hidden Power Electric.
In OU, things are getting tougher for the nine-tailed fox. Blissey, Heatran, Snorlax, Gyarados and the Dragons can all stop it, knocking it out with their Earthquake, Earth Power, Waterfall, etcetera. Of course, Gyarados, Salamence and Garchomp have to look out for a dangerous Hidden Power. And above all, let’s not forget that Ninetales can put an incoming counter to sleep with Hypnosis.
Opinion & Notes
Ninetales is certainly one of the best UU Pokémon and, in some cases, it is able to compete in OU. Although Infernape came to overshadow it as well as many other Fire-type Pokémon, DP gave it a whole bunch of useful moves. Nasty Plot, Energy Ball, Dark Pulse and an improved Hypnosis will all help the fox dominate the UU metagame.
Do bear in mind that Ninetales cannot learn Energy Ball via the TM. Instead, Energy Ball is an egg move. Teach the TM to a male Stantler and breed it with a female Vulpix/Ninetales in order to get the move. This is actually good as Stantler can also pass Hypnosis to Vulpix.