Type: Poison / Psychic
Stats: 88 / 75 / 66 / 130 / 90 / 106 | 555
Ability: Toxic Chain: This Pokemon's moves have a 30% chance of badly poisoning the target / Frisk (HA)
Notable Moves:
Sludge Wave
Sludge Bomb
Venoshock
Psychic
Psyshock
Focus Blast
Shadow Ball
Trick
Nasty Plot
Parting Shot
Taunt
U-Turn
Pros:
- Its stats are quite fantastic, with a very high 130 SpA stat and decently fast 106 Speed.
- Having access to Nasty Plot on top of its stats can make it a threatening sweeper.
- Toxic Chain is an insane ability. Allowing any of its special moves to have a 30% chance to inflict Toxic is terrifying.
- Can work as an offensive pivot with access to U-Turn which works well with Toxic Chain.
Cons:
- Its offensive movepool is very disappointing, with its only viable coverage option being the unreliable Focus Blast.
- Its typing is pretty detrimental, providing little offensive value on top of common weaknesses to Ground, Dark, and Ghost. Not the best when Pokemon like Kingambit and Dragapult are seen on nearly every team.
- Its physical bulk is utterly laughable, making it very vulnerable to physical attackers that can outspeed or deal with its attacks like Cinderace and Landorus-T.
- 106 Speed is above-average, but still not impressive. With lots of faster attackers like Enamorus, Dragapult, and Meowscarda, revenge killing it is not a particularly difficult feat.
- Both of its STABs have immunities, making choice sets unappealing despite having access to pivoting and Trick.
- Munkidori faces a lot of competition for these said attributes, with other special attackers like Iron Moth and Gholdengo having much better typings and movepools. Even its unique niche in Toxic Chain isn't especially helpful in a frail offensive Pokemon in Munkidori. Fezandipiti takes advantage of the ability much better.
Terastal Potential:
- Tera Poison is an obvious choice to boost its Poison-type STAB moves further while also getting rid of its annoying weaknesses to Dark and Ground.
- Tera Fighting is another option to resist Darks that can otherwise threaten it, and boost the power of Focus Blast.
Potential Sets:
Nasty Plot Sweeper
Munkidori @ Life Orb
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Poison / Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Focus Blast / Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
Munkidori's most basic set. You click Nasty Plot and attempt to sweep. Sludge Bomb is chosen over Sludge Wave to take advantage of its ability and have a high chance of poisoning the target. For its Psychic STAB option, Psychic is an easy choice if you want the extra power, but Psyshock deals better with special walls like Clodsire. Focus Blast is extremely necessary coverage to deal with the Steels and Darks that give Munkidori trouble. However, Shadow Ball can be run to hit Gholdengo instead. Timid Nature is chosen to maximize its non-optimal speed, as it’s already very strong and takes advantage of Nasty Plot.
Offensive Pivot
Munkidori @ Black Sludge / Life Orb
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Poison / Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock / Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast / Shadow Ball
- Taunt
- U-Turn
This more unique sets takes advantage of Munkidori's access to Parting Shot. It only runs one STAB option, so you can be fairly flexible. Psychic and Psyshock have much better synergy with Focus Blast, while Sludge Bomb takes the most advantage of its ability. Shadow Ball can be run instead of Focus Blast to have better neutral coverage, especially with Sludge Bomb. As this set doesn't run Nasty Plot, Taunt is used instead to cripple any walls that it can't outdamage. Lastly, U-Turn is used instead of Parting Shot to potentially poison the target when switching out. For the item, Black Sludge can be used to give it more longetitivity so it has more opprotunities to cripple the opponent and pivot out, but Life Orb can be chosen instead if the extra damage is needed.
Other Options:
- As mentioned before, Choice sets may seem appealing due to its access to Trick, with Choice Scarf especially patching its only decent speed, but its poor offensive typing that can easily be switched into through Steels and Darks makes it non-optimal.
- Venoshock may seem appealing due to it working very well with Toxic Chain, having a 30% chance to turn into an insane 130 BP move, but it’s too inconsistent to work, especially with Munkidori’s fragility.
Overall Thoughts:
Despite having arguably the best optimized stats out of the Loyal Three, it is unlikely to be viable in OU. Its movepool is extremely unimpressive and it just doesn't do a lot that other Pokemon don't do better. It has unique attributes, like Toxic Chain and Parting Shot, but they're not enough to make it stand out. However, it will definitely be viable in the lower tiers, for whatever it ends up. RU is my best guess, but it could also serve a niche in UU assuming the powercreep hasn't caught on too much.
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