Ash Borer
I've heard they're short of room in hell
Name: Kartana
Type: Grass/Steel
Ability: Beast Boost
Base Stats 59 / 181 / 131 / 59 / 31 / 109
Level Up Movepool
L1 - Sacred Sword
L1 - Defog
L1 - Vacuum Wave
L1 - Air Cutter
L1 - Fury Cutter
L1 - Cut
L7 - False Swipe
L13 - Razor Leaf
L19 - Synthesis
L23 - Aerial Ace
L29 - Laser Focus
L31 - Night Slash
L37 - Swords Dance
L43 - Leaf Blade
L47 - X-Scissor
L53 - Detect
L59 - Air Slash
L67 - Psycho Cut
L73 - Guillotine
TM Compatibility
TM04 - Calm Mind
TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM17 - Protect
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM31 - Brick Break
TM32 - Double Team
TM40 - Aerial Ace
TM44 - Rest
TM48 - Round
TM54 - False Swipe
TM67 - Smart Strike
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM75 - Swords Dance
TM81 - X-Scissor
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM100 - Confide
***
Kartana is a physically offensive powerhouse, like few other. 181 Attack is certainly terrifying, especially when backed up by a good speed tier, strong defensive typing and solid physical bulk. Kartana is not without flaws however, being limited to moves of modest base power betrays its excellent Attack, its typing is quite poor offensively and pretty much any special attack will OHKO it through that Deo-A like Special Defense.
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紙の剣 - Paper Sword
Kartana @ Life Orb
Ability: Best Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike / Night Slash
***
Leverage Kartana's physical bulk, offensive presence and defensive typing to find turns to boost, and then sweep away; this is a fairly standard offensive sweeper. Leaf Blade is your strongest STAB move and is therefore indispensable, as is Sacred Sword's ability to break through Steel-types. The final slot is up to which Pokemon your team struggles with more. Smart Strike's ability to break through Fairy-types that resist Grass-type attacks such as Tapu Bulu, and score neutral hits on the likes of Mega Venusaur, Dragonite, Buzzwole, and a handful of other threats is also highly useful. Night Slash's primary target is Aegislash, who is anticipated to be extremely prevalent and would be a hard-stop otherwise. The choice between the two moves is a difficult one. One could always choose to run both and no Swords Dance, though you will probably be missing out on the ability to get past certain walls such as Skarmory or Gliscor without it. A Choice Scarf set's viability is worth thinking about, as Beast Boost's potential to catalyze late-game sweeps seems intriguing, though Grass is quite a bad offensive type, so the chances of this seem remote.
***
In conclusion, Kartana is a strong offensive threat that has a handful of flaws that need to be played around. Though the flaws are there, if you can play around them, a sweep is a very real possibility. Its up to the players to be creative and skilled enough to find the right ways to play around these flaws and capitalize on Kartana's ruthless offensive prowess.
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