[OVERVIEW]
Necrozma is a nifty and unique Trick Room setter that treads the line between offensive powerhouse and bulky piece that can set up with little support, but outside of role compression it doesn't offer much else. Its access to a strong signature STAB move in Photon Geyser along with coverage moves for Steel-types in Heat Wave and Earth Power, in conjunction with its high Special Attack, allow it to handily threaten a multitude of threats after setting its own Trick Room. While Necrozma's respectable bulk is brought down by a lack of useful resistances outside of Psychic, its Prism Armor ability lets it take super effective hits fairly comfortably, granting it mostly neutral matchups across the metagame. Still, Necrozma can find itself a bit annoyed by Steel- and Dark-types such as Incineroar, Scrafty, and Mega Metagross, which can reliably take its Psychic-type blows. Its lack of overt specialization or more particularly standout qualities, as it is neither particularly offensive nor bulky, also leaves it constantly overshadowed by other, more consistent Trick Room setters such as Stakataka, Bronzong, Hoopa-U, Diancie, and Porygon2, relegating it mostly to a mere option for a third-string Trick Room setter on a Trick Room team.
[SET]
name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Photon Geyser
move 3: Earth Power / Heat Wave
move 4: Protect / Stealth Rock
item: Psychium Z
ability: Prism Armor
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 204 SpA / 24 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Trick Room allows Necrozma to provide speed control, enabling it and its ordinarily slow teammates to outrun most of the metagame and become threats. Photon Geyser is Necrozma's most reliable attack, being a strong STAB move that can do significant damage to most threats. Earth Power and Heat Wave are choices for Necrozma's third moveslot for hitting through Steel-types; Earth Power is generally preferred, as it also hits Inciniroar while still covering Mega Metagross and Stakataka, whereas Heat Wave deals with key non-Ground-weak Steel-types such as Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, Genesect, and Celesteela. On the last slot, Protect is preferred, as it can provide Necrozma with flexibility, allowing it to defend itself while repositioning the board or stalling out unfavorable field conditions. Stealth Rock can be also be used as an aggressive option for punishing switches, which full Trick Room teams are generally adept at forcing. One can also instead just run both Heat Wave and Earth Power on the last two moveslots, though this is overall quite redundant and often is not worth the opportunity cost.
Set Details
========
The EV investment aims to emphasize Necrozma's ability to provide role compression by allowing it to take common attacks while still emphasizing its offensive capabilities. Necrozma is invested to survive a Tectonic Rage from Adamant Landorus-T or a Life Orb-boosted Shadow Ball from Aegislash, while the rest of the EVs are dumped into Special Attack for more damage output. A Quiet nature and 0 Speed IVs are used in order to make Necrozma as slow as possible for Trick Room. Psychium Z provides some additional flexibility, as it allows Necrozma to either devastate a target with a powerful Shattered Psyche or bypass a possible Taunt through Z-Trick Room.
Usage Tips
========
Generally speaking, Necrozma should be setting Trick Room as soon as realistically possible to enable its team. If Necrozma is chosen to be the lead setter, it is a good idea to pair it alongside a Fake Out partner such as Incineroar or Scrafty, as they can put Necrozma in a relatively safe one-on-one matchup to set Trick Room. However, if Necrozma is aiming to set Trick Room mid-game, one should not switch it in recklessly, as it isn't overly bulky or gifted with useful resistances, so it can't afford to spare much HP; make sure to not mistake its ability to take super effective hits well with Prism Armor as actual bulk, a trap that players can fall into.
It is recommended to play Necrozma in a very aggressive manner, with the goal of racking up as much damage as possible after setting Trick Room, considering it's one of the more offensive setters available. At times, it is even better to just sacrifice Necrozma while getting a last strong hit in, as this both inflicts valuable chip damage and lets in another strong attacker for free; this requires some forward thinking, however, as it puts the team down a setter. When it comes to the Z-Crystal, it is best to be liberal with it for attacking, as Shattered Psyche's devastating power can easily put Necrozma's team at the lead; however, Z-Trick Room is also a crafty way of getting around Taunt, so against known Taunt users, Necrozma should instead use its Z-Crystal defensively, considering that setting Trick Room is Necrozma's primary purpose.
Team Options
========
Considering Necrozma is primarily a Trick Room team pick, slow Pokemon that fit the playstyle work superbly. Strong Trick Room attackers such as Mega Camerupt and Stakataka are recommended in order to maximize damage output, with the former also being particularly useful for covering any Steel-type that Necrozma may have problems with and the latter enjoying Necrozma's ability to check Steel-types well enough with its coverage moves. For consistency in setting Trick Room, it is recommended to have other Trick Room setters available; those that fare well enough against Ghost- and Dark-types such as Stakataka, Diancie, and Porygon2 are recommended, as they can cover the threats that give Necrozma trouble. Fake Out users such as Scrafty and Incineroar are good to have, as they can give Necrozma safe opportunities to set Trick Room, with the Intimidate they provide also being a nifty bonus. For the sake of negating opposing Amoonguss's Spore, Tapu Fini is a good choice, as its Misty Terrain can block status with little effort; Tapu Koko can function similarly with its Electric Terrain, but it is fast and is a better choice for teams that are less dependent on Trick Room.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Calm Mind allows Necrozma to devastate more foes quicker after a boost and allows it to muscle past some bulkier threats, while Moonlight can grant it some longevity; both options have the problem of being too slow for a Trick Room team, however, which usually aims to maximize the short stints Trick Room is up for, and they also take up a moveslot that could have been used for a coverage move. Any of the Electric, Grassy, Misty, and Psychic Seeds can be used in conjunction with the respective Island Guardian in order to supplement either of Necrozma's physical or special bulk, improving its ability to take hits. Similarly, a Wiki Berry can be used to give Necrozma some more longevity in general, as the burst recovery can quickly push it out of KO ranges. A boosting set with Calm Mind, Stored Power, Moonlight, and possibly one of Iron Defense and Rock Polish can be used as a potentially unstoppable sweeper in theory; however, this set is too slow, as it needs boosts badly to be effective, and is also comfortably walled by Dark-types. A Swords Dance set with Tectonic Rage and Earthquake can be run as a surprise boosting attacker that can deal with would-be checks in Tyranitar, Incineroar, and some Steel-types with ease, but this set is not particularly effective without a boost.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ghost-types**: Aegislash can do significant damage to Necrozma with its powerful Ghost-type moves, also resisting its Photon Geyser. However, it must watch out for Heat Wave or Earth Power.
**Dark-types**: With their immunity to Psychic, Dark-types capably wall Necrozma, as it struggles to do any meaningful damage with its coverage moves. Incineroar, Scrafty, Hoopa-U, and Tyranitar can stomach any blow and hit with a super effective Dark STAB move, with the first two also being capable of stalling a valuable Trick Room turn with Fake Out.
**Steel-types**: While they have to be wary of what specific coverage move Necrozma is running, Steel-types can generally be problematic to deal with, as they resist Necrozma's main attack in Photon Geyser. Celesteela, Mega Scizor, and Ferrothorn can handle Earth Power variants well, while Stakataka can deal with those running Heat Wave instead.
**Strong Attackers**: Generally speaking, trying to beat down Necrozma with powerful attacks can stop it in its tracks, as it isn't blessed with notable bulk or resistances; generally strong hits such as Life Orb Kyurem-B's Ice Beam and Life Orb Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt, in addition to Z-Moves in general, can end up being too devastating for Necrozma to handle and stop it from setting Trick Room.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Memoric, 215000]]
- Previous versions by: [[nadando, 353628]]
- Quality checked by: [[talkingtree, 232101], [Level 51, 118474]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [talkingtree, 232101]]
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