Tapu Fini

[Here Comes Team Charm!]

[SET]
name: Sitrus
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Surf
move 3: Calm Mind / Icy Wind
move 4: Taunt / Icy Wind
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Misty Surge
nature: Bold
evs: 248 HP / 176 SpA / 84 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=============
A Sitrus Berry complements Tapu Fini's stats and typing, giving it even more longevity by letting it survive two hits from pokemon like Roseli Berry Urshifu and Choice Specs Necrozma. The combination of Moonblast and Surf gives Fini near-perfect coverage. Calm Mind gives Tapu Fini the ability to boost against bulky threats like Necrozma, Sylveon, and Primarina, while Taunt lets it shut down stall Pokemon like Body Press Registeel and Clefable. Icy Wind is an option that beats Choice Band Landorus-Therian and Choice Band Sawk, while improving rolls versus Choice Band Garchomp. If ran with Taunt, it allows Fini to lower a faster Pokemon's speed and keep it permanently Taunted afterwards.

EVs
========
248 HP lets Tapu Fini survive a +3 Hurricane from the most common Moltres-G set. A Bold nature ensure it can always survive a +2 Earthquake from Custap Berry Garchomp and a Choice Band Head Smash from Aggron. 84 speed allow it to outspeed bulky Kyurem, Tapu Lele, and Zygarde. The remainder is put in special attack.

Usage Tips
=============
Tapu Fini is reasonably straightforward to use. Against Togekiss, Fini should Moonblast T1 (to minimize the risk of losing to Trick). Against a slower Togekiss, it should use Calm Mind, then Taunt before Misty Terrain ends, to protect itself from being paralyzed.

[SET]
name: ID Draining Kiss
move 1: Draining Kiss
move 2: Surf
move 3: Iron Defense
move 4: Taunt / Calm Mind
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Misty Surge
nature: Calm
evs: 236 HP / 96 Def / 176 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
With Iron Defense and Draining Kiss, as well as higher speed investment, this set improves its matchup against physical attackers like Assault Vest Tyranitar, Custap Berry Dracozolt, and Choice Band Sawk. Surf continues to provide reliable STAB damage, and is especially helpful against Fairy-resistant Pokemon like Heatran and Aggron. Taunt and Calm Mind are both solid options that either help Fini against stall or special wallbreakers like Necrozma.

EVs
========
236 HP and a Sitrus Berry let Tapu Fini almost always live three Hyper Voices from 92+ Spa Sylveon. 176 Speed allows it to outspeed Adamant Dracozolt and Dracovish. The remainder is put in defense.

Usage Tips
========
Tapu Fini's general goal should be to increase its Defense or Special Attack to the point where its Draining Kiss recovery can nullify nearly all of the opponent's damage, allowing Fini to slowly chip its foe down and win.

[SET]
name: Trick Scarf
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Surf
move 3: Trick
move 4: Rest
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Telepathy
nature: Timid
evs: 80 HP / 20 Def / 156 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=============
With a Choice Scarf, Tapu Fini can outspeed most of the metagame. Alternatively, it can use Trick and Rest to lock a passive Pokemon into one move and stall it out of PP. Telepathy is used over Misty Terrain to allow Tapu Fini to Rest immediately after using Trick.

EVs
========
80 HP EVs raise Tapu Fini's HP to 301, allowing it to survive three Seismic Tosses from Pokemon like Registeel and Chansey. 20 defense EVs allow Tapu Fini to survive one hit from Choice Band Landorus-Therian as well as three Thousand Arrows from uninvested Zygarde. Max speed gives Tapu Fini the best odds against opposing Choice Scarf Tapu Fini, as well as Choice Scarf Sawk. The remainder is placed in special attack.

An alternative spread is 80 HP / 196 SpA / 232 Spe, which can no longer beat Choice Scarf Sawk and Choice Scarf Tapu Fini but deals more damage, which matters in the Dracozolt matchup. HP is unchanged while the new Speed investment allows you to outspeed Modest Choice Scarf Kyurem.

Usage Tips
=============
Against most Pokemon that it can't beat with its STAB moves, Tapu Fini should click Trick T1 followed by Rest spam until the opponent runs out of PP. Beware of Encore users like Primarina, as they can Encore you into Trick to get the upper hand. Note that certain Assault Vest users like Glastrier and Metagross cannot be safely tricked, as their item will prevent Fini from using Rest afterwards. Aggron usually beats this set, but Tapu Fini can maximize its odds by using Trick T1: this forces Aggron to hit two head smashes to win.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hydro Pump is an option over Surf on Choice Scarf sets. Its increased power allows Tapu Fini to beat Diancie and Choice Specs Rotom-Heat, but its miss chance makes many other matchups unnecessarily risky.

Leftovers can be used on the Iron Defense set, but this is only advantageous in lengthy matchups (lasting for five turns or more) and requires giving up on beating Choice Band Sawk.

Fini can run a Choice Specs set, with Moonblast, Hydro Pump, Trick, and either Ice Beam (for reliability against zygarde) or Rest, with EVs similar to the Choice Scarf set. This set can break through some slower pokemon like Celesteela, but the loss of speed makes it less reliable against several faster pokemon like Spectrier and Substitute Volcarona.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Here Comes Team Charm!, 501918]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

 

[Here Comes Team Charm!]

I think this contains most of the essential information now, taking it out of WIP.

 

[Itchy]

QC here, this is unsurprisingly outdated considering it was written half a year ago. It aged a bit, as I'm sure a lot of analyses did in this forum. Gonna probably need to take a second look
Please review the Grammar Standards, there were a few minor errors I noted with comments, nothing major

Red = remove
Yellow= add
Green = elaborate
Blue text = comments

Here Comes Team Charm!, post: 8878296, member: 501918

[SET]
name: Sitrus
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Surf
move 3: Calm Mind / Icy Wind
move 4: Taunt / Icy Wind
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Misty Surge
nature: Bold
evs: 248 HP / 176 SpA / 84 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=============
A Sitrus Berry complements Tapu Fini's stats and typing, giving it even more longevity by letting it survive two hits from pokemon (:eyes:) like Roseli Berry Urshifu and (no longer a common set, add something new here if you feel like it) Choice Specs Necrozma. The combination of Moonblast and Surf gives Fini near-perfect coverage. Calm Mind gives Tapu Fini the ability to boost against bulky threats like Necrozma, Sylveon, and Primarina, while Taunt lets it shut down stall Pokemon like Body Press Registeel and Clefable (maybe mention Galarian Corsola or Fake Tears from Sylveon). Icy Wind is an option that beats Choice Band Landorus-Therian and Choice Band Sawk (technically correct, but not very relevant anymore), while improving rolls versus Choice Band Garchomp. If ran with Taunt, it allows Fini to lower a faster Pokemon's speed (:eyes:) and keep it permanently Taunted afterwards.

EVs
========
248 HP lets Tapu Fini survive a +3 Hurricane from the most common Moltres-G set. A Bold nature ensure it can always survive a +2 Earthquake from Custap Berry Garchomp and a Choice Band Head Smash from Aggron. 84 speed allow it to outspeed bulky Kyurem, Tapu Lele, and Zygarde. The remainder is put in special attack (:eyes:).

Usage Tips
=============
(what set?) Tapu Fini is reasonably straightforward to use (why?). Against Choice Scarf Togekiss, Fini should Moonblast Turn 1 (to minimize the risk of losing to Trick). Against a slower Togekiss, it Tapu Fini should then (after MBlast, I assume) use Calm Mind, then use Taunt before Misty Terrain ends, to protect itself from being paralyzed by Thunder Wave.

[SET]
name: Iron Defense Draining Kiss
move 1: Draining Kiss
move 2: Surf
move 3: Iron Defense
move 4: Taunt / Calm Mind
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Misty Surge
nature: Calm
evs: 236 HP / 96 Def / 176 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
With Iron Defense and Draining Kiss, as well as higher speed investment, this set improves its matchup against physical attackers like Assault Vest Tyranitar, Custap Berry Dracozolt, and Choice Band Sawk (maybe something else can go here-). Surf continues to provide reliable STAB damage, and is especially helpful against Fairy-resistant Pokemon like Heatran and Aggron. Taunt and Calm Mind are both solid options that either help Fini against stall (such as?) or special wallbreakers like Necrozma (maybe 1-2 more).

EVs
========
236 HP and a Sitrus Berry let Tapu Fini almost always live three Hyper Voices from 92+ Spa (:eyes:) Sylveon. 176 Speed allows it to outspeed Adamant Dracozolt and Dracovish. The remainder is put in defense (:eyes:).

Usage Tips
========
Tapu Fini's general goal should be is to increase its Defense or Special Attack to the point where its Draining Kiss recovery can nullify nearly all of the opponent's damage, allowing Fini to slowly chip its foe down and win.

[SET]
name: Trick Choice Scarf
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Surf
move 3: Trick
move 4: Rest
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Telepathy
nature: Timid
evs: 80 HP / 20 Def / 156 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=============
With a Choice Scarf, Tapu Fini can outspeed most of the metagame. Alternatively, it can use Trick and Rest to lock a passive Pokemon into one move and stall it out of PP PP stall them. Telepathy is used over Misty Terrain to allow Tapu Fini to Rest immediately after using Trick.

EVs
========
80 HP EVs raise Tapu Fini's HP to 301, allowing it to survive three Seismic Tosses from Pokemon like Registeel and Chansey. 20 defense (:eyes:) EVs allow Tapu Fini to survive one hit from Choice Band Landorus-Therian as well as three Thousand Arrows from uninvested Zygarde (RIP). Max speed (:eyes:) gives Tapu Fini the best odds against opposing Choice Scarf Tapu Fini, as well as Choice Scarf Sawk. The remainder is placed in special attack (:eyes:).

An alternative spread is 80 HP / 196 SpA / 232 Spe, which can no longer beat Choice Scarf Sawk and Choice Scarf Tapu Fini but deals more damage, which matters in the Dracozolt matchup. HP is unchanged while the new Speed investment allows you to outspeed Modest Choice Scarf Kyurem.

Usage Tips
=============
Against most Pokemon that it can't beat with its STAB moves, Tapu Fini should click Trick Turn 1 followed by Rest spam until the opponent runs out of PP attacking and using Rest. Beware of Encore users like Primarina and Togekiss, as they can Encore you into Trick to get the upper hand. Note that certain Assault Vest users like Glastrier and Metagross cannot be safely tricked, as their item will prevent Tapu Fini from using Rest afterwards. Aggron usually beats this set, but Tapu Fini can maximize its odds by using Trick Turn 1: this forces Aggron to hit two head smashes (:eyes:) to win.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hydro Pump is an option over Surf on Choice Scarf sets. Its increased power allows Tapu Fini to beat Diancie and Choice Specs Rotom-Heat, but its miss chance makes many other matchups unnecessarily risky.

Leftovers can be used on the Iron Defense set, but this is only advantageous in lengthy matchups (lasting for five turns or more) and requires giving up on beating Choice Band Sawk.

Fini can run a Choice Specs set, with Moonblast, Hydro Pump, Trick, and either Ice Beam (for reliability against zygarde) (RIP) or Rest, with EVs similar to the Choice Scarf set. This set can break through some slower pokemon like Celesteela, but the loss of speed makes it less reliable against several faster pokemon like Spectrier and Substitute Volcarona.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Here Comes Team Charm!, 501918]]
- Quality checked by: [[Itchy, 518399], [username2, userid2]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

 

[Here Comes Team Charm!]

Hi! I've been very busy the past few days, and will continue to be that as PL moves forward, so I regretfully can't update this analysis (which I agree is very necessary). I'll release it for someone else to grab, if they want to.