OU Alolan Ninetales

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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[OVERVIEW]

As the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, Alolan Ninetales carves itself a niche in OU as the only viable user of the the former. Between its good Speed stat and its access to both Hypnosis and Encore, Alolan Ninetales is able to set up Aurora Veil against a large portion of the tier without fearing setup sweepers taking advantage of it as it does so, and it forces out a number of Pokemon in the important base 90 to 108 Speed bracket such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Mega Medicham, Keldeo, and Garchomp. Furthermore, its access to Freeze-Dry allows it to shut down large portions of rain teams when combined with Snow Warning, and Alolan Ninetales's good Special Defense stat allows it to take a decently strong neutral special hit in order to set up Aurora Veil if it absolutely needs to. That said, it is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, which makes it very vulnerable to entry hazards, and while Fairy is nice for shutting down Pokemon like Garchomp and Latios locked into their respective Dragon-type STAB moves, its secondary Ice typing does very little in the way of providing defensive synergy with teammates while compounding its weakness to the omnipresent Steel type. Furthermore, Alolan Ninetales's decent Special Defense is contrasted by its abysmal physical bulk, which leaves it very vulnerable to physical attackers before setting up Aurora Veil, and its low Special Attack leaves it unable to pose as a threat to Mega Charizard Y that block its setup attempts by overwriting hail with Drought. It is also an easy target for Volcarona to set up on if it lacks Hypnosis or if Sleep Clause is active.

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze-Dry
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Hypnosis / Encore
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Aurora Veil lets Alolan Ninetales support its teammates by temporarily halving the damage taken from the opposing team's attacks, which opens up more opportunities to dish out hits and set up. Freeze-Dry allows Alolan Ninetales to have an excellent matchup versus rain—a playstyle that commonly gives offensive teams a headache—by hitting Pelipper, Mega Swampert, and Kingdra 4x super effectively, and it also means Gyarados can't use Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder. Hidden Power Fire lets Ninetales 2HKO Ferrothorn as it switches in and deals 50% to Mega Scizor, pressuring it to use Roost to check foes consistently. Hypnosis shuts down Pokemon that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales like Vocarona and Mega Charizard X while also creating free turns for teammates. Encore is an option that shuts down slower, non-Speed-boosting setup sweepers without requiring the preservation of Sleep Clause while pressuring defensive Pokemon like Toxapex more consistently than Hypnosis.

Moonblast is an option for for hitting Dark- and Fighting-types super effectively, notably 2HKOing Tyranitar, which can block Aurora Veil attempts with Sand Stream, and OHKOing Greninja if it attempts to switch in on Aurora Veil; other notable feats this move achieves include KOing Keldeo after significantly less chip damage than Freeze-Dry requires and being able to OHKO Mega Medicham. Hail is an option that can help improve the matchup versus Mega Charizard Y that attempt to block Aurora Veil with Drought by undoing the weather change to sun on the turn it switches in. Blizzard has perfect accuracy under hail and is Alolan Ninetales's strongest attack, attaining a number of notable KOs over Freeze-Drysuch as an OHKO on specially defensive Zygarde and a 2HKO on Assault Vest Tangrowth as well as putting Mega Charizard X into KO range of Choice Scarf Keldeo's Scald.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is important to best take advantage of Alolan Ninetales's good Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil with as much consistency as possible and outpacing the base 95 to 108 Speed bracket; its Special Attack is also maximized to allow it to deal as much damage as possible and attain a range of KOs such as an OHKO on uninvested Gyarados with Freeze-Dry. Snow Warning allows Alolan Ninetales to set up hail on the turn that it is sent out, which is necessary to ensure maximum consistency when setting up Aurora Veil. Light Clay maximizes the duration of said move, which is important to maximize the amount of utility that Alolan Ninetales brings to the table.

Usage Tips
========

Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into attacks directly if possible and instead aim to bring it in on a slow Volt Switch or U-turn, after a teammate is KOed, or on a well-predicted double switch; similarly, aim to bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out to ensure that Aurora Veil can be set up safely. If you see Volcarona or Mega Charizard X on the opposing team, don't put a different foe to sleep in order to prevent them using Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. If Ninetales carries Encore, use it against Pokemon that are slower than Ninetales after they set up, and don't be afraid to shut down certain defensive Pokemon like Toxapex and Ice Beam Mew if the situation requires you to do so. Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximize the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses, but don't be afraid to take one hit with Alolan Ninetales if it is necessary. If Alolan Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active, use the opportunity to set it up and let Alolan Ninetales faint to grab momentum late-game.

Team Options
========

Setup attackers like Gyarados, Bisharp, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Mega Pinsir, Volcarona, and Zygarde all massively appreciate Aurora Veil due to its ability to make setting up easier; Bisharp is also nice for discouraging attempts to clear Aurora Veil with Defog, whereas Volcarona takes advantage of Aurora Veil to circumvent Rock-type moves from Choice Scarf users, which are used to revenge kill it after a boost, such as Keldeo's Stone Edge. Slow Volt Switch and U-turn users like Mega Scizor, Jirachi, Landorus-T, Magearna, Assault Vest Magnezone, and Rotom-W are useful for helping get Alolan Ninetales onto the field safely while also making pivoting into teammates after setting up Aurora Veil easier; bulky pivots like Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Toxapex achieve a similar goal, albeit with a little more prediction being required. Frail nukes like Hoopa-U, Mega Medicham, Kartana, Ash-Greninja, and Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room when spamming their absurdly strong attacks, allowing them to deal significantly more damage to the opposing team. Pokemon such as Magnezone, Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard Y can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types, making them good teammates; Mega Charizard Y also changes the weather with Drought, allowing it to support Alolan Ninetales by helping to maximize the number of turns of hail it has available to it after switching in. Bulky attackers such as Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tyranitar are helpful for reducing the team's reliance on Aurora Veil while becoming extremely hard to break when the effect is on the field; similarly to Mega Charizard Y, Tyranitar is also capable of ensuring that Alolan Ninetales has hail up every time it comes in by overwriting it. Rapid Spin from the likes of Starmie and Excadrill is useful for clearing entry hazards, which otherwise give Alolan Ninetales a massive headache and limit how many times it can set up Aurora Veil; Defog users like Mew, Tapu Fini, Latios, and Mega Scizor also work for this purpose. Entry hazard setters such as Ferrothorn, Greninja, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak make solid partners for their ability to help Alolan Ninetales's teammates break through the opposing team.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A bulkier set with enough Speed investment to outrun Garchomp is an option over the listed set, but generally speaking, the offensive spread is more useful in practice. Hidden Power Ground can be used to 2HKO maximum HP Heatran after Stealth Rockas well as Assault Vest Magnezone after one layer of Spikes. Disable is an option to shut down certain attacks and is useful versus Choice item users by forcing them to either switch or use Struggle, but this leaves Alolan Ninetales vulnerable to setup sweepers. Toxic is an option to alleviate Alolan Ninetales's passiveness and is useful for wearing down bulky Pokemon for teammates, whereas Nasty Plot achieves the same goal by boosting Alolan Ninetales's Special Attack stat sharply, which is useful for reducing its reliance on teammates to break through the opposing team.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Mega Charizard Y**: Mega Charizard Y blocks attempts to set up Aurora Veil by overwriting hail with Drought, takes very little damage from any of Alolan Ninetales's attacks barring the inaccurate Blizzard, which fails to 2HKO it, and returns the favor by dealing heavy damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates with a sun-boosted Fire Blast.

**Steel-types**: Mega Scizor takes very little damage from anything other than Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi take very little damage from almost all of Alolan Ninetales's attacks and KO it in return with Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or Iron Head. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder.

**Entry Hazards**: Alolan Ninetales is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent Speed tier when pitted against teams that carry it.

**Fire-types**: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STAB moves, and they both threaten it heavily with STAB moves of their own. Volcarona is slower than Alolan Ninetales, takes very little from any of its attacks, and outpaces it after one boost, meaning that it is not threatened by Encore and concequently uses non-Hypnosis Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. Mega Charizard X is in the same boat, although it needs to be wary of a potential Blizzard.

**Sand Stream Users**: While they need to be wary of Freeze-Dry and Moonblast, respectively, Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil.
[OVERVIEW]

* The only viable Aurora Veil user in OU
* Good Speed stat and access to Encore allows it to outrun un-Scarfed Keld and below, with the capacity to beat the 90-108 Speed bracket being being excellent for forcing out stuff like Garchomp/Zygarde/Lando etc. and setting up Aurora Veil consistently.
* Access to Freeze Dry in conjunction with Snow Warning allows it to seriously mess with rain, being able to shut down both Pelipper and Kingdra.
* Good Special Defense stat allows it to take a special hit outside of Veil if it absolutely needs to.
* Weak to SR and grounded, making it very vulnerable to entry hazards; this is further compounded by the fact that using Defog clears Aurora Veil.
* While Fairy is nice for shutting down stuff like Dragon-locked Chomp/Latios, Ice provides almost no defensive utility to any team and doubles up its already-crippling Steel-type weakness.
* Very physically frail before setting Veil.
* Not-so-brilliant SpA stat means it can feel passive at times; consequently struggles to threaten Mega Charizard Y that overwrite its hail whilst being setup bait for speed boosters which it can't hit super effectively or Encore.

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze Dry / Blizzard
move 3: Moonblast
move 4: Encore
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Aurora Veil is what gives Alolan Ninetales a niche in OU, allowing it to functionally set up both Reflect and Light Screen when supplemented by hail, which Snow Warning provides.
* Freeze Dry allows Ninetales to have a good matchup versus rain--a playstyle which commonly gives offense a headache--by hitting Pelipper/Kingdra 4x super effectively. Also prevents Ninetales being setup bait non-mega Gyarados whilst just generally being its strongest option versus Water-types beyond those mentioned.
* Blizzard is Ninetales' strongest attack, attaining a few KOs over Freeze Dry such as the OHKO versus specially defensive Zygarde and the 2HKO versus Assault Vest Tangrowth, and gets an accuracy buff from hail.
* Moonblast hits Dark- and Fighting-types super effectively, being important for hitting Tyranitar switch-ins hard due to its ability to shut down Aurora Veil as well as one-shotting Mega Medicham (stopping it nuking whatever Ninetales switches out to); deals more damage to pre-transformation Greninja and Keldeo than Freeze Dry, OHKOing the former without any prior damage ('cause it can take one hit from it at full health) and KOing the latter with less chip damage (useful vs. non-Sword locks and Specs/CM variants).
* Encore is important for preventing Alolan Ninetales' underwhelming firepower being taken advantage of setup sweepers which can take a hit from it but can't boost Speed; also shuts down defensive Pokemon such as Toxapex by either locking them into moves like Scald (thus preventing the use of other utility moves or Recover) or by locking them into their utility moves, turning them into setup bait for teammates.

Set Details
========

* Max Spe+Timid is important to take best advantage of Alolan Ninetales's Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil vs. as much as possible and allowing it to outrun the 95-108 speed bracket.
* Max SpA is important for allowing Alolan Ninetales to deal as much damage to things as possible, allowing it to attain a few KOs such as the OHKO on uninvested Gyarados with Freeze Dry and the 2HKO on Tyranitar with Moonblast as it attempts to overwrite Ninetales' hail, among others.
* Snow Warning allows Ninetales to set hail upon switch-in, which is necessary to allow it to use Aurora Veil without any prior setup.
* Light Clay maximises the duration of Auroa Veil, which is important for maximising Alolan Ninetales' utility.

Usage Tips
========

* Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into things directly if possible, and instead aim to bring it in on a slow VoltTurn, faint, or well-predicted double switch.
* Bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out in order to set Aurora Veil safely.
* Use Encore against something which is slower than Ninetales post-setup or which Ninetales can take one hit from under the effects of Aurora Veil on the turn after it sets up. This is also useful versus defensive Pokemon because shutting them down can be instrumental to the success of a teammate.
* Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximise the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses.
* Don't be afraid to take a hit with Ninetales if totally necessary, and if Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active then set it up and use the resultant free switch wisely.

Team Options
========

* Setup sweepers like Mega Charizard X, Salamence, Landorus-T, Garchomp, Gyarados, Zygarde, Volcarona etc. all massively appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to ease setup, sometimes being able to attain double the number of boosts with it up.
* Slow VoltTurners like Mega Scizor, Jirachi, Landorus-T, Magearna, and Rotom-W can help get Alolan Ninetales in safely whilst allowing for pivoting into teammates safely after Aurora Veil has been set up; pivots like Tangrowth and Toxapex also achieve this, albeit with a little more prediction reliance.
* Frail nukes like Hoopa-U, Mega Medicham, Kartana, Ash Greninja, and Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room whilst helping break things down for an Aurora Veil sweep for teammates.
* Pokemon which can deal with Steel-types for Alolan Ninetales, such as Magnezone, Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard Y, make for solid teammates.
* Bulky attackers like Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tyranitar can help reduce the team's reliance on Aurora Veil whilst becoming really hard to break if it is up.
* Rapid Spin from the likes of Starmie or Excadrill can clear entry hazards which give Alolan Ninetales a headache. Defoggers like Latios, Tapu Fini, and Mega Scizor also work.
* Entry hazard users such as Ferrothorn, Greninja, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak make for solid partners for their ability to help weaken things for one of Alolan Ninetales's partners to clean up.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========

* A bulky spread w/ enough speed to outrun Garchomp is an option, but the offensive spread is generally more useful in practice.
* All of the following would be used over Encore.
* Hidden Power Fire catches Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn who try to switch in on Alolan Ninetales, dealing roughly 50-60% to the former and 2HKOing the latter after 1 layer of Spikes.
* Hidden Power Ground 2HKOs offensive Tran and non-AV Magnezone which try to switch in on Alolan Ninetals.
* Hypnosis can create opportunities for teammates by putting stuff to sleep and stops Volcarona/Zard X setting up on it, but it is inaccurate and most of the time Encore+Aurora does the trick.
* Disable can be used to shut down certain attacks for teammates, which can generate switch-in opportunities, but Encore is important for preventing Ninetales being used as setup bait by slower 'mons and is decent at creating opportunities alongside Aurora Veil already.
* Toxic can help alleviate passiveness by putting a timer on bulky Pokemon.
* Hail overwrites Zard Y's sun, allowing Alolan Ninetales to set up Aurora Veil against it.
* Nasty Plot allows Alolan Ninetales to pose as more of an offensive threat, which is useful for when you can't afford to fall back on teammates.

Checks and Counters
========

**Mega Charizard Y**: This Pokemon overwrites hail with Drought, preventing Alolan Ninetales from using Aurora Veil, takes very little damage from any of its attacks, and deals huge damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates in return with Fire Blast.

**Steel-types**: Mega Scizor takes minimal damage from anything barring Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi both take very little damage from all of Alolan Ninetales's attacks (barring Hidden Power Fire in the case of the former) and KO in return with Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or Iron Head, respectively. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder.

**Entry Hazards**: Alolan Ninetales is grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent speed tier when faced against it.

**Fire-types**: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STABs and both threaten it heavily back with STABs moves of their own. Volcarona and Mega Charizard X are both slower than Alolan Ninetales, both take very little from its STABs, and outpace after one boost—meaning they are not threatened by Encore and, as such, use Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder.

**Sand Stream users**: While they need to be wary of Freeze Dry and Moonblast, respectively, Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil.
 
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* Freeze Dry allows Ninetales to have a good matchup versus rain--a playstyle which commonly gives offense a headache--by hitting Pelipper/Kingdra (and soon Mega Swamp too; RIP that I wanna write about it but it's not out zzzzzzzz) 4x super effectively. Also prevents Ninetales being setup bait non-mega Gyarados.
I would remove the mention of Mega Swamp (I get this is a joke).

I think mentioning something more relevant than Hippowdon as something you are able to 2HKO. Blizzard should be slashed on the main set because with Freeze Dry is super weak coming off 81 SpA and it really only good vs Pelipper/Kingdra. If those aren't in the game Ninetales is actually not doing damage even though it could be useful.

Everything else seems fine to me. QC 1/3
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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This mon is hot ass. I've rarely used it for this reason, so I feel like I can't accurately QC check it but it looks pretty good regardless. I don't really think there's a need to mention HP Rock in OO, because that's like stupidly niche and I'd rather just run HP Fire to not be completely cucked by Steels. HP Ground I guess can stay just because Heatran 4x resist all of its moves and that's pretty dumb, but still insanely niche on an already insanely niche Pokemon.

QC 2/3 ass
 

Eclipse

Like a chimp with a machine gun
is a Contributor Alumnus
Hey man, I'm gonna give some recommendations for this mon since I've been on an Aurora Veil team rush for the past few weeks and would like to help out with the moveset. To start off: I think the set should look like this:

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze Dry
move 3: Encore
move 4: Hail / Moonblast
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

With Blizzard mentioned in moves. Giving up Freeze-Dry is simply something I would never do; the utility it provides in hitting mons like Keldeo, Greninja, Mantine, Pelipper, and now Mega Swampert is way too nice to give up, given that Ninetales matches up very well against the rain teams that have been spammed since Pert's release. Even when/if rain teams die down, I would never get rid of Freeze-Dry for some extra damage with Blizzard which isn't necessary given Ninetales's role as a utility mon. I can understand Blizzard + Moonblast since you can no longer hit Gren and Keld in one move with Blizzard, but I will touch on this later when I talk about Moonblast itself.

Next, I put Hail as the primary slash in the 4th moveslot. The main reason for Hail, aside from fucking with Zard-Y (which isn't really the reason at all for why I'm running this move), is to fuck with opposing weather setters, primarily Tyranitar and Pelipper. While you do mention with Moonblast that you can 2HKO Ttar with Moonblast provided you've gotten prior damage, I'd rather use Ttar's predicted switchin to actually get up Aurora Veil as opposed to weakening/taking out Tyranitar. On top of this, you fuck with Pelipper's who switch directly into Ninetales to sack it and bring in their own Swift Swim sweeper of choice. Hail is just such nice utility, which is why I recommend it in the 4th slot.

Now for Moonblast; realistically, any time I carry this move, I find myself never clicking it. I literally have no reason to click it given that Freeze-Dry hits just about everything else barring Ttar, Weavile, Mega Hera, and Mega Medi, which is why i still recommend keeping Moonblast as a secondary slash. But if these mons are in front of me, I would 100% rather just set up Aurora Veil and allow them to take me out for my teammate to take advantage of.

Let me know if you agree with this or have any problems with it, as I firmly believe this is the optimal set for this mon so that you get as much mileage out of it as possible (PS: Aurora Veil is lowkey broken)
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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Hey man, I'm gonna give some recommendations for this mon since I've been on an Aurora Veil team rush for the past few weeks and would like to help out with the moveset. To start off: I think the set should look like this:

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze Dry
move 3: Encore
move 4: Hail / Moonblast
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

With Blizzard mentioned in moves. Giving up Freeze-Dry is simply something I would never do; the utility it provides in hitting mons like Keldeo, Greninja, Mantine, Pelipper, and now Mega Swampert is way too nice to give up, given that Ninetales matches up very well against the rain teams that have been spammed since Pert's release. Even when/if rain teams die down, I would never get rid of Freeze-Dry for some extra damage with Blizzard which isn't necessary given Ninetales's role as a utility mon. I can understand Blizzard + Moonblast since you can no longer hit Gren and Keld in one move with Blizzard, but I will touch on this later when I talk about Moonblast itself.

Next, I put Hail as the primary slash in the 4th moveslot. The main reason for Hail, aside from fucking with Zard-Y (which isn't really the reason at all for why I'm running this move), is to fuck with opposing weather setters, primarily Tyranitar and Pelipper. While you do mention with Moonblast that you can 2HKO Ttar with Moonblast provided you've gotten prior damage, I'd rather use Ttar's predicted switchin to actually get up Aurora Veil as opposed to weakening/taking out Tyranitar. On top of this, you fuck with Pelipper's who switch directly into Ninetales to sack it and bring in their own Swift Swim sweeper of choice. Hail is just such nice utility, which is why I recommend it in the 4th slot.

Now for Moonblast; realistically, any time I carry this move, I find myself never clicking it. I literally have no reason to click it given that Freeze-Dry hits just about everything else barring Ttar, Weavile, Mega Hera, and Mega Medi, which is why i still recommend keeping Moonblast as a secondary slash. But if these mons are in front of me, I would 100% rather just set up Aurora Veil and allow them to take me out for my teammate to take advantage of.

Let me know if you agree with this or have any problems with it, as I firmly believe this is the optimal set for this mon so that you get as much mileage out of it as possible (PS: Aurora Veil is lowkey broken)
I'll play around with it a bit at some point in the next few days and reply to this properly then 'cause it's been a while since I used the Hail variant, but atm I am a bit sketchy on it 'cause i just remember when I last used ATales I found myself clicking Moonblast a lot more than you seem to be suggesting it does and would never realistically give it up just 'cause the significantly better damage vs. same-effectiveness targets+better neutral hit than Freeze Dry is just so invaluable for it to not be a sitting duck a lot of the time. Also 2HKOing Tar>>>catching it w/ Hail 'cause, unless Tales is about to die anyway and you are able to set up for a cleanup if given a free switch, it is p. much invaraiably better to play for preservation>sacrifice in my experience.
 

p2

Banned deucer.
i think the set should be this, most of qc agrees too
1. aurora
2. f-d
3. hp fire
4. hypno/encore

3/3
 

dhelmise

everything is embarrassing
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[OVERVIEW]

As the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, Alolan Ninetales carves itself a niche in the tier OU as the only viable user of the former move. Between its good Speed stat and its access to both Hypnosis and Encore, Alolan Ninetales is able to set up Aurora Veil against a large portion of the tier without fearing setup sweepers taking advantage of it as it does so, and it forces out a number of Pokemon in the important base 90 (RH) to 108 Speed bracket, such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Mega Medicham, Keldeo, and Garchomp. Furthermore, its access to Freeze-Dry (AH) alongside Snow Warning allows it to shut down large portions of rain teams when combined with its Snow Warning ability, and its Alolan Ninetales's good Special Defense stat allows Alolan Ninetales it to take a decently strong neutral special hit in order to set up Aurora Veil if it absolutely needs to. That said, it is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, which makes it very vulnerable to entry hazards, and while Fairy is nice for shutting down Pokemon like Dragon-type move Choice-locked Garchomp and Latios, its secondary Ice typing does very little in the way of providing defensive synergy with teammates while compounding its weakness to the omnipresent Steel-type. Furthermore, its Alolan Ninetales's decent Special Defense is contrasted by its abysmal physical bulk, which leaves it very vulnerable to physical attackers before setting up Aurora Veil, and its low Special Attack stat leaves it unable (missing a word? i think this is what you meant) to KO Mega Charizard Y that block its Aurora Veil attempts by overwriting hail with Drought, (AC) and it is while being an easy target for Volcarona to set up on if it lacks Hypnosis or if Sleep Clause is active.

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze-Dry (AH)
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Hypnosis / Encore
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Aurora Veil lets Alolan Ninetales support its teammates by temporarily halving the damage taken from the opposing team's attacks, which opens up opportunities to dish out more hits to opponents foes, (AC) and makes setting up easier. Freeze-Dry (AH) allows Alolan Ninetales to have an excellent matchup versus rain—a playstyle which that commonly gives offensive teams a headache—by hitting Pelipper, Mega Swampert, and Kingdra 4x super effectively, and it also stops Gyarados from using Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder. Hidden Power Fire allows Ninetales to 2HKO Ferrothorn as it switches in and deals 50% to Mega Scizor, pressuring it to use Roost to check things foes consistently. Hypnosis shuts down Pokemon like Vocarona and Mega Charizard X which that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales while also creating free turns for teammates. Encore is also an option which that shuts down slower, non-Speed-boosting (AH) setup sweepers without requiring the preservation of Sleep Clause while pressuring defensive Pokemon like Toxapex more consistently than Hypnosis.

Moonblast is an option for for hitting Dark- and Fighting-types super effectively, notably including its ability to 2HKO Tyranitar, (AC) which try to can block Aurora Veil attempts with Sand Stream, and Greninja, (AC) which try tries to switch in on Aurora Veil or Blizzard, as well as KOing Keldeo after significantly less chip damage, and OHKOing its ability to OHKO Mega Medicham. Hail can be used to overwrite Mega Charizard Y's sun as it Alolan Ninetales switches in, (AC): (RColon) allowing Alolan Ninetales to set up Aurora Veil against it. (this sentence seems better suited for usage tips) Blizzard has its perfect accuracy bolstered to 100% (blizzard cant miss in hail) under hail and is Alolan Ninetales's strongest attack, attaining a number of notable KOs over Freeze-Dry (AH), such as an OHKO on specially defensive Zygarde and a 2HKO on Assault Vest Tangrowth, and as well as putting Mega Charizard X into range of Choice Scarf Keldeo's Scald.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is important to best take advantage of Alolan Ninetales's good Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil with as much consistency as possible and outpacing the base 95 (RH) to 108 Speed bracket; its Special Attack is also maximized to allow Alolan Ninetales it to deal as much damage as possible—attaining a range of knock-outs KOs such as an OHKO on uninvested Gyarados with Freeze-Dry (AH). Snow Warning allows Alolan Ninetales to set up hail on the turn that it is sent out, which is necessary to ensure maximum consistency when setting up Aurora Veil. Light Clay maximizes the duration of said move, which is important to maximize the amount of utility that Alolan Ninetales brings to the table.

Usage Tips
========

Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into attacks directly if possible, (RC) and instead aim to bring it in on a slow VoltTurn Volt Switch or U-turn (VoltTurn doesnt work here), after a teammate is knocked out KOed, or on a well-predicted double switch; similarly, aim to bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out if possible to ensure that Aurora Veil can be set up safely. If you see Volcarona or Mega Charizard X on the opposing team, don't activate Sleep Clause in order to prevent them using Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. If Ninetales carries Encore, use it against Pokemon which that are slower than Ninetales after they set up, and don't be afraid to shut down certain defensive Pokemon like Toxapex or and Ice Beam Mew if the battle situation requires you to do so. Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximize the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses, but don't be afraid to take one hit with Alolan Ninetales if it is necessary. If Alolan Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active, use the opportunity to set it up and let Alolan Ninetales faint to grab momentum late-game.

Team Options
========

Setup attackers sweepers like Gyarados, Bisharp, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Volcarona, and Zygarde all massively appreciate Aurora Veil due to its ability to make setting up easier or, when the circumstances are correct, to attain a second boost (this is very much implied by "setting up easier") to secure a sweep. Bisharp is also nice for discouraging attempts to clear Aurora Veil with Defog, whereas Volcarona takes advantage of Aurora Veil to circumvent Rock-type moves from Choice Scarf users, (AC) which people use are used to revenge kill it after a boost, namely including Keldeo's Stone Edge. Slow VoltTurners Volt Switch and U-turn (even further from correct) like Mega Scizor, Jirachi, Landorus-T, Magearna, Assault Vest Magnezone, and Rotom-W are useful for helping get Alolan Ninetales onto the field safely while also making pivoting into teammates after setting up Aurora Veil easier; bulky pivots like Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Toxapex also achieve a similar goal, albeit with a little more prediction being required. Frail nukes like Hoopa-U, Mega Medicham, Kartana, Ash-Greninja (AH), and Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room when spamming their absurdly strong attacks, allowing them to deal significantly more damage to the opposing team. Pokemon which can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types, (RC) such as Magnezone, Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard Y that can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types make for good teammates; the latter Mega Charizard Y (former and latter are exclusively used in lists of two) also changes the weather with Drought, allowing it to support Alolan Ninetales by helping to maximize the number of turns of hail it has available to it after switching in. Bulky attackers such as Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tyranitar are helpful for reducing the team's reliance on Aurora Veil while becoming extremely hard to break when it the effect is on the field; similarly to Mega Charizard Y, the Tyranitar is also capable of ensuring that Alolan Ninetales has hail up every time it comes in by overwriting it. Rapid Spin from the likes of either Starmie or Excadrill is useful for clearing entry hazards, which otherwise give Alolan Ninetales a massive headache and limit how many times it can set up Aurora Veil; Defog users like Mew, Tapu Fini, Latios, and Mega Scizor also work for this purpose. Entry hazard users setters such as Ferrothorn, Greninja, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak make solid partners for their ability to help Alolan Ninetales's teammates break through the opposing team.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A bulkier set with enough Speed investment to outrun Garchomp is an option over the listed set, but generally speaking, (AC) the offensive spread is more useful in practice. Hidden Power Ground can be used to 2HKO max maximum HP Heatran after Stealth Rock, (AC) as well as 2HKOing Assault Vest Magnezone after 1 one (numbers less than 10 are spelled out) layer of Spikes. Disable is an option to shut down certain attacks, (RC) being and is useful versus Choice item users that which go against Alolan Ninetales by forcing them to either switch or use Struggle, but this leaves Alolan Ninetales vulnerable to setup sweepers. Finally, Toxic is an option to alleviate Alolan Ninetales's passiveness and is useful for wearing down bulky Pokemon for teammates, whereas Nasty Plot achieves the same goal by boosting its Alolan Ninetales's Special Attack stat sharply, which is useful for reducing its reliance on teammates to break through the opposing team.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Mega Charizard Y**: This Pokemon Mega Charizard Y blocks Aurora Veil attempts by overwriting hail with Drought, takes very little damage from any of Alolan Ninetales's attacks, (AC) (barring the inaccurate Blizzard, which fails to 2HKO it), and returns the favor by dealing heavy damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates with a sun-boosted Fire Blast.

**Steel-types**: Mega Scizor takes very little damage from anything barring except Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi all take very little damage from almost all of Alolan Ninetales's attacks (barring Hidden Power Fire, in the case of the former) and KO it in return with Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or and Iron Head, respectively. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder.

**Entry Hazards**: Alolan Ninetales is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes, (AC) and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent Speed tier when pitted against teams which that carry it.

**Fire-types**: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STABs STAB moves, (AC) and they both threaten it heavily with STAB moves of their own. Volcarona is slower than Alolan Ninetales, takes very little from any of its attacks, and outpaces it after one boost, (AC) —meaning that it is not threatened by Encore and, (RC) as such, (RC) uses non-Hypnosis Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. Mega Charizard X is in the same boat, although it needs to be wary of a potential Blizzard.

**Sand Stream Users**: While they need to be wary of Freeze-Dry (AH) and Moonblast, respectively, Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil.
GP 1/2
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
[OVERVIEW]

As the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, Alolan Ninetales carves itself a niche in the tier OU as the only viable user of the former move. Between its good Speed stat and its access to both Hypnosis and Encore, Alolan Ninetales is able to set up Aurora Veil against a large portion of the tier without fearing setup sweepers taking advantage of it as it does so, and it forces out a number of Pokemon in the important base 90 (RH) to 108 Speed bracket, such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Mega Medicham, Keldeo, and Garchomp. Furthermore, its access to Freeze-Dry (AH) alongside Snow Warning allows it to shut down large portions of rain teams when combined with its Snow Warning ability, and its Alolan Ninetales's good Special Defense stat allows Alolan Ninetales it to take a decently strong neutral special hit in order to set up Aurora Veil if it absolutely needs to. That said, it is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, which makes it very vulnerable to entry hazards, and while Fairy is nice for shutting down Pokemon like Dragon-type move Choice-locked Garchomp and Latios, its secondary Ice typing does very little in the way of providing defensive synergy with teammates while compounding its weakness to the omnipresent Steel-type. Furthermore, its Alolan Ninetales's decent Special Defense is contrasted by its abysmal physical bulk, which leaves it very vulnerable to physical attackers before setting up Aurora Veil, and its low Special Attack stat leaves it unable (missing a word? i think this is what you meant) to KO Mega Charizard Y that block its Aurora Veil attempts by overwriting hail with Drought, (AC) and it is while being an easy target for Volcarona to set up on if it lacks Hypnosis or if Sleep Clause is active.

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze-Dry (AH)
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Hypnosis / Encore
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Aurora Veil lets Alolan Ninetales support its teammates by temporarily halving the damage taken from the opposing team's attacks, which opens up opportunities to dish out more hits to opponents foes, (AC) and makes setting up easier. Freeze-Dry (AH) allows Alolan Ninetales to have an excellent matchup versus rain—a playstyle which that commonly gives offensive teams a headache—by hitting Pelipper, Mega Swampert, and Kingdra 4x super effectively, and it also stops Gyarados from using Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder. Hidden Power Fire allows Ninetales to 2HKO Ferrothorn as it switches in and deals 50% to Mega Scizor, pressuring it to use Roost to check things foes consistently. Hypnosis shuts down Pokemon like Vocarona and Mega Charizard X which that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales while also creating free turns for teammates. Encore is also an option which that shuts down slower, non-Speed-boosting (AH) setup sweepers without requiring the preservation of Sleep Clause while pressuring defensive Pokemon like Toxapex more consistently than Hypnosis.

Moonblast is an option for for hitting Dark- and Fighting-types super effectively, notably including its ability to 2HKO Tyranitar, (AC) which try to can block Aurora Veil attempts with Sand Stream, and Greninja, (AC) which try tries to switch in on Aurora Veil or Blizzard, as well as KOing Keldeo after significantly less chip damage, and OHKOing its ability to OHKO Mega Medicham. Hail can be used to overwrite Mega Charizard Y's sun as it Alolan Ninetales switches in, (AC): (RColon) allowing Alolan Ninetales to set up Aurora Veil against it. (this sentence seems better suited for usage tips) Blizzard has its perfect accuracy bolstered to 100% (blizzard cant miss in hail) under hail and is Alolan Ninetales's strongest attack, attaining a number of notable KOs over Freeze-Dry (AH), such as an OHKO on specially defensive Zygarde and a 2HKO on Assault Vest Tangrowth, and as well as putting Mega Charizard X into range of Choice Scarf Keldeo's Scald.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is important to best take advantage of Alolan Ninetales's good Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil with as much consistency as possible and outpacing the base 95 (RH) to 108 Speed bracket; its Special Attack is also maximized to allow Alolan Ninetales it to deal as much damage as possible—attaining a range of knock-outs KOs such as an OHKO on uninvested Gyarados with Freeze-Dry (AH). Snow Warning allows Alolan Ninetales to set up hail on the turn that it is sent out, which is necessary to ensure maximum consistency when setting up Aurora Veil. Light Clay maximizes the duration of said move, which is important to maximize the amount of utility that Alolan Ninetales brings to the table.

Usage Tips
========

Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into attacks directly if possible, (RC) and instead aim to bring it in on a slow VoltTurn Volt Switch or U-turn (VoltTurn doesnt work here), after a teammate is knocked out KOed, or on a well-predicted double switch; similarly, aim to bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out if possible to ensure that Aurora Veil can be set up safely. If you see Volcarona or Mega Charizard X on the opposing team, don't activate Sleep Clause in order to prevent them using Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. If Ninetales carries Encore, use it against Pokemon which that are slower than Ninetales after they set up, and don't be afraid to shut down certain defensive Pokemon like Toxapex or and Ice Beam Mew if the battle situation requires you to do so. Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximize the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses, but don't be afraid to take one hit with Alolan Ninetales if it is necessary. If Alolan Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active, use the opportunity to set it up and let Alolan Ninetales faint to grab momentum late-game.

Team Options
========

Setup attackers sweepers like Gyarados, Bisharp, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Volcarona, and Zygarde all massively appreciate Aurora Veil due to its ability to make setting up easier or, when the circumstances are correct, to attain a second boost (this is very much implied by "setting up easier") to secure a sweep. Bisharp is also nice for discouraging attempts to clear Aurora Veil with Defog, whereas Volcarona takes advantage of Aurora Veil to circumvent Rock-type moves from Choice Scarf users, (AC) which people use are used to revenge kill it after a boost, namely including Keldeo's Stone Edge. Slow VoltTurners Volt Switch and U-turn (even further from correct) like Mega Scizor, Jirachi, Landorus-T, Magearna, Assault Vest Magnezone, and Rotom-W are useful for helping get Alolan Ninetales onto the field safely while also making pivoting into teammates after setting up Aurora Veil easier; bulky pivots like Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Toxapex also achieve a similar goal, albeit with a little more prediction being required. Frail nukes like Hoopa-U, Mega Medicham, Kartana, Ash-Greninja (AH), and Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room when spamming their absurdly strong attacks, allowing them to deal significantly more damage to the opposing team. Pokemon which can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types, (RC) such as Magnezone, Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard Y that can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types make for good teammates; the latter Mega Charizard Y (former and latter are exclusively used in lists of two) also changes the weather with Drought, allowing it to support Alolan Ninetales by helping to maximize the number of turns of hail it has available to it after switching in. Bulky attackers such as Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tyranitar are helpful for reducing the team's reliance on Aurora Veil while becoming extremely hard to break when it the effect is on the field; similarly to Mega Charizard Y, the Tyranitar is also capable of ensuring that Alolan Ninetales has hail up every time it comes in by overwriting it. Rapid Spin from the likes of either Starmie or Excadrill is useful for clearing entry hazards, which otherwise give Alolan Ninetales a massive headache and limit how many times it can set up Aurora Veil; Defog users like Mew, Tapu Fini, Latios, and Mega Scizor also work for this purpose. Entry hazard users setters such as Ferrothorn, Greninja, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak make solid partners for their ability to help Alolan Ninetales's teammates break through the opposing team.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A bulkier set with enough Speed investment to outrun Garchomp is an option over the listed set, but generally speaking, (AC) the offensive spread is more useful in practice. Hidden Power Ground can be used to 2HKO max maximum HP Heatran after Stealth Rock, (AC) as well as 2HKOing Assault Vest Magnezone after 1 one (numbers less than 10 are spelled out) layer of Spikes. Disable is an option to shut down certain attacks, (RC) being and is useful versus Choice item users that which go against Alolan Ninetales by forcing them to either switch or use Struggle, but this leaves Alolan Ninetales vulnerable to setup sweepers. Finally, Toxic is an option to alleviate Alolan Ninetales's passiveness and is useful for wearing down bulky Pokemon for teammates, whereas Nasty Plot achieves the same goal by boosting its Alolan Ninetales's Special Attack stat sharply, which is useful for reducing its reliance on teammates to break through the opposing team.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Mega Charizard Y**: This Pokemon Mega Charizard Y blocks Aurora Veil attempts by overwriting hail with Drought, takes very little damage from any of Alolan Ninetales's attacks, (AC) (barring the inaccurate Blizzard, which fails to 2HKO it), and returns the favor by dealing heavy damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates with a sun-boosted Fire Blast.

**Steel-types**: Mega Scizor takes very little damage from anything barring except Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi all take very little damage from almost all of Alolan Ninetales's attacks (barring Hidden Power Fire, in the case of the former) and KO it in return with Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or and Iron Head, respectively. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder.

**Entry Hazards**: Alolan Ninetales is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes, (AC) and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent Speed tier when pitted against teams which that carry it.

**Fire-types**: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STABs STAB moves, (AC) and they both threaten it heavily with STAB moves of their own. Volcarona is slower than Alolan Ninetales, takes very little from any of its attacks, and outpaces it after one boost, (AC) —meaning that it is not threatened by Encore and, (RC) as such, (RC) uses non-Hypnosis Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. Mega Charizard X is in the same boat, although it needs to be wary of a potential Blizzard.

**Sand Stream Users**: While they need to be wary of Freeze-Dry (AH) and Moonblast, respectively, Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil.
GP 1/2
Implemented this.

The comment about Hail was about how it allows Alolan Ninetales to set Aurora Veil up against Mega Charizard Y which switch into Ninetales: not Ninetales which switch into Mega Charizard Y. I've slightly reworded this, so hopefully it is a little clearer.

My reason for saying setup attackers>setup sweepers was because not all of the listed Pokemon are sweepers, and I didn't want to imply that the only setup Pokemon which work with Alolan Ninetales are sweepers. In this instance, Garchomp, Mega Pinsir, and Lando-T are generally used as setup wallbreakers as opposed to sweepers, and I wanted to imply as such.
 

GP 2/2
remove add

[OVERVIEW]

As the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, Alolan Ninetales carves itself a niche in OU as the only viable user of the the former. Between its good Speed stat and its access to both Hypnosis and Encore, Alolan Ninetales is able to set up Aurora Veil against a large portion of the tier without fearing setup sweepers taking advantage of it as it does so, and it forces out a number of Pokemon in the important base 90 to 108 Speed bracket, (comma) such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Mega Medicham, Keldeo, and Garchomp. Furthermore, its access to Freeze-Dry allows it to shut down large portions of rain teams when combined with Snow Warning, and Alolan Ninetales's good Special Defense stat allows it to take a decently strong neutral special hit in order to set up Aurora Veil if it absolutely needs to. That said, it is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, which makes it very vulnerable to entry hazards, and while Fairy is nice for shutting down Pokemon like Garchomp and Latios which are locked into their respective Dragon-type STAB moves, its secondary Ice typing does very little in the way of providing defensive synergy with teammates while compounding its weakness to the omnipresent Steel-(hyphen)type. Furthermore, Alolan Ninetales's decent Special Defense is contrasted by its abysmal physical bulk, which leaves it very vulnerable to physical attackers before setting up Aurora Veil, and its low Special Attack stat leaves it unable to pose as a threat to Mega Charizard Y that block its Aurora Veil setup attempts by overwriting hail with Drought,. (comma) (period) and It is also an easy target for Volcarona to set up on if it lacks Hypnosis or if Sleep Clause is active.

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze-Dry
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Hypnosis / Encore
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Aurora Veil lets Alolan Ninetales support its teammates by temporarily halving the damage taken from the opposing team's attacks, which opens up more opportunities to dish out more hits to foes, (comma) and set up makes setting up easier. Freeze-Dry allows Alolan Ninetales to have an excellent matchup versus rain—a playstyle that commonly gives offensive teams a headache—by hitting Pelipper, Mega Swampert, and Kingdra 4x super effectively, and it also means Gyarados can't use Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder. Hidden Power Fire lets Ninetales 2HKO Ferrothorn as it switches in and deals 50% to Mega Scizor, pressuring it to use Roost to check foes consistently. Hypnosis shuts down Pokemon that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales like Vocarona and Mega Charizard X that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales while also creating free turns for teammates. Encore is also an option that shuts down slower, non-Speed-boosting setup sweepers without requiring the preservation of Sleep Clause while pressuring defensive Pokemon like Toxapex more consistently than Hypnosis.

Moonblast is an option for for hitting Dark- and Fighting-types super effectively, notably including its ability to 2HKOing Tyranitar, which can block Aurora Veil attempts with Sand Stream, and OHKOs OHKOing Greninja if it attempts to switch in on Aurora Veil; other notable feats this move achieves include KOing Keldeo after significantly less chip damage than Freeze-Dry requires and being able to OHKO Mega Medicham. Hail is an option which that can help alleviate improve the matchup versus Mega Charizard Y which that attempt to block Aurora Veil with Drought by undoing the weather change to sun on the turn it switches in. Blizzard has perfect accuracy under hail and is Alolan Ninetales's strongest attack, attaining a number of notable KOs over Freeze-Dry, (comma) such as an OHKO on specially defensive Zygarde and a 2HKO on Assault Vest Tangrowth, (comma) as well as putting Mega Charizard X into KO range of Choice Scarf Keldeo's Scald.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is important to best take advantage of Alolan Ninetales's good Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil with as much consistency as possible and outpacing the base 95 to 108 Speed bracket; its Special Attack is also maximized to allow it to deal as much damage as possible—attaining and attain a range of KOs such as an OHKO on uninvested Gyarados with Freeze-Dry. Snow Warning allows Alolan Ninetales to set up hail on the turn that it is sent out, which is necessary to ensure maximum consistency when setting up Aurora Veil. Light Clay maximizes the duration of said move, which is important to maximize the amount of utility that Alolan Ninetales brings to the table.

Usage Tips
========

Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into attacks directly if possible and instead aim to bring it in on a slow Volt Switch or U-turn, after a teammate is KOed, or on a well-predicted double switch; similarly, aim to bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out if possible to ensure that Aurora Veil can be set up safely. If you see Volcarona or Mega Charizard X on the opposing team, don't activate Sleep Clause put a different foe to sleep in order to prevent them using Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. If Ninetales carries Encore, use it against Pokemon that are slower than Ninetales after they set up, and don't be afraid to shut down certain defensive Pokemon like Toxapex and Ice Beam Mew if the battle situation requires you to do so. Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximize the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses, but don't be afraid to take one hit with Alolan Ninetales if it is necessary. If Alolan Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active, use the opportunity to set it up and let Alolan Ninetales faint to grab momentum late-game.

Team Options
========

Setup attackers like Gyarados, Bisharp, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Mega Pinsir, Volcarona, and Zygarde all massively appreciate Aurora Veil due to its ability to make setting up easier; Bisharp is also nice for discouraging attempts to clear Aurora Veil with Defog, whereas Volcarona takes advantage of Aurora Veil to circumvent Rock-type moves from Choice Scarf users, which people use are used to revenge kill it after a boost, namely including such as Keldeo's Stone Edge. Slow Volt Switch and U-turn users like Mega Scizor, Jirachi, Landorus-T, Magearna, Assault Vest Magnezone, and Rotom-W are useful for helping get Alolan Ninetales onto the field safely while also making pivoting into teammates after setting up Aurora Veil easier; bulky pivots like Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Toxapex also achieve a similar goal, albeit with a little more prediction being required. Frail nukes like Hoopa-U, Mega Medicham, Kartana, Ash-Greninja, and Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room when spamming their absurdly strong attacks, allowing them to deal significantly more damage to the opposing team. Pokemon such as Magnezone, Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard Y that can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types, (comma) making them make for good teammates; Mega Charizard Y also changes the weather with Drought, allowing it to support Alolan Ninetales by helping to maximize the number of turns of hail it has available to it after switching in. Bulky attackers such as Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tyranitar are helpful for reducing the team's reliance on Aurora Veil while becoming extremely hard to break when the effect is on the field; similarly to Mega Charizard Y, Tyranitar is also capable of ensuring that Alolan Ninetales has hail up every time it comes in by overwriting it. Rapid Spin from the likes of either Starmie or and Excadrill is useful for clearing entry hazards, which otherwise give Alolan Ninetales a massive headache and limit how many times it can set up Aurora Veil; Defog users like Mew, Tapu Fini, Latios, and Mega Scizor also work for this purpose. Entry hazard setters such as Ferrothorn, Greninja, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak make solid partners for their ability to help Alolan Ninetales's teammates break through the opposing team.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A bulkier set with enough Speed investment to outrun Garchomp is an option over the listed set, but generally speaking, the offensive spread is more useful in practice. Hidden Power Ground can be used to 2HKO maximum HP Heatran after Stealth Rock, (comma) as well as 2HKOing Assault Vest Magnezone after one layer of Spikes. Disable is an option to shut down certain attacks and is useful versus Choice item users that go against Alolan Ninetales by forcing them to either switch or use Struggle, but this leaves Alolan Ninetales vulnerable to setup sweepers. Finally, Toxic is an option to alleviate Alolan Ninetales's passiveness and is useful for wearing down bulky Pokemon for teammates, whereas Nasty Plot achieves the same goal by boosting Alolan Ninetales's Special Attack stat sharply, which is useful for reducing its reliance on teammates to break through the opposing team.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Mega Charizard Y**: Mega Charizard Y blocks Aurora Veil attempts to set up Aurora Veil by overwriting hail with Drought, takes very little damage from any of Alolan Ninetales's attacks, (comma) barring the inaccurate Blizzard, which fails to 2HKO it, and returns the favor by dealing heavy damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates with a sun-boosted Fire Blast.

**Steel-types**: Mega Scizor takes very little damage from anything other than Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi all take very little damage from almost all of Alolan Ninetales's attacks and KO it in return with Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or Iron Head, (comma) respectively. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales for as setup fodder.

**Entry Hazards**: Alolan Ninetales is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent Speed tier when pitted against teams that carry it.

**Fire-types**: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STAB moves, and they both threaten it heavily with STAB moves of their own. Volcarona is slower than Alolan Ninetales, takes very little from any of its attacks, and outpaces it after one boost, meaning that it is not threatened by Encore and concequently uses non-Hypnosis Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. Mega Charizard X is in the same boat, although it needs to be wary of a potential Blizzard.

**Sand Stream Users**: While they need to be wary of Freeze-Dry and Moonblast, respectively, Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil.
 
Last edited:

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus

GP 2/2
remove add

[OVERVIEW]

As the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, Alolan Ninetales carves itself a niche in OU as the only viable user of the the former. Between its good Speed stat and its access to both Hypnosis and Encore, Alolan Ninetales is able to set up Aurora Veil against a large portion of the tier without fearing setup sweepers taking advantage of it as it does so, and it forces out a number of Pokemon in the important base 90 to 108 Speed bracket, (comma) such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Mega Medicham, Keldeo, and Garchomp. Furthermore, its access to Freeze-Dry allows it to shut down large portions of rain teams when combined with Snow Warning, and Alolan Ninetales's good Special Defense stat allows it to take a decently strong neutral special hit in order to set up Aurora Veil if it absolutely needs to. That said, it is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, which makes it very vulnerable to entry hazards, and while Fairy is nice for shutting down Pokemon like Garchomp and Latios which are locked into their respective Dragon-type STAB moves, its secondary Ice typing does very little in the way of providing defensive synergy with teammates while compounding its weakness to the omnipresent Steel-(hyphen)type. Furthermore, Alolan Ninetales's decent Special Defense is contrasted by its abysmal physical bulk, which leaves it very vulnerable to physical attackers before setting up Aurora Veil, and its low Special Attack stat leaves it unable to pose as a threat to Mega Charizard Y that block its Aurora Veil setup attempts by overwriting hail with Drought,. (comma) (period) and It is also an easy target for Volcarona to set up on if it lacks Hypnosis or if Sleep Clause is active.

[SET]
name: Aurora Veil
move 1: Aurora Veil
move 2: Freeze-Dry
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Hypnosis / Encore
item: Light Clay
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Aurora Veil lets Alolan Ninetales support its teammates by temporarily halving the damage taken from the opposing team's attacks, which opens up more opportunities to dish out more hits to foes, (comma) and set up makes setting up easier. Freeze-Dry allows Alolan Ninetales to have an excellent matchup versus rain—a playstyle that commonly gives offensive teams a headache—by hitting Pelipper, Mega Swampert, and Kingdra 4x super effectively, and it also means Gyarados can't use Alolan Ninetales as setup fodder. Hidden Power Fire lets Ninetales 2HKO Ferrothorn as it switches in and deals 50% to Mega Scizor, pressuring it to use Roost to check foes consistently. Hypnosis shuts down Pokemon that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales like Vocarona and Mega Charizard X that attempt to set up in front of Alolan Ninetales while also creating free turns for teammates. Encore is also an option that shuts down slower, non-Speed-boosting setup sweepers without requiring the preservation of Sleep Clause while pressuring defensive Pokemon like Toxapex more consistently than Hypnosis.

Moonblast is an option for for hitting Dark- and Fighting-types super effectively, notably including its ability to 2HKOing Tyranitar, which can block Aurora Veil attempts with Sand Stream, and OHKOs OHKOing Greninja if it attempts to switch in on Aurora Veil; other notable feats this move achieves include KOing Keldeo after significantly less chip damage than Freeze-Dry requires and being able to OHKO Mega Medicham. Hail is an option which that can help alleviate improve the matchup versus Mega Charizard Y which that attempt to block Aurora Veil with Drought by undoing the weather change to sun on the turn it switches in. Blizzard has perfect accuracy under hail and is Alolan Ninetales's strongest attack, attaining a number of notable KOs over Freeze-Dry, (comma) such as an OHKO on specially defensive Zygarde and a 2HKO on Assault Vest Tangrowth, (comma) as well as putting Mega Charizard X into KO range of Choice Scarf Keldeo's Scald.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is important to best take advantage of Alolan Ninetales's good Speed stat, allowing it to use Aurora Veil with as much consistency as possible and outpacing the base 95 to 108 Speed bracket; its Special Attack is also maximized to allow it to deal as much damage as possible—attaining and attain a range of KOs such as an OHKO on uninvested Gyarados with Freeze-Dry. Snow Warning allows Alolan Ninetales to set up hail on the turn that it is sent out, which is necessary to ensure maximum consistency when setting up Aurora Veil. Light Clay maximizes the duration of said move, which is important to maximize the amount of utility that Alolan Ninetales brings to the table.

Usage Tips
========

Avoid switching Alolan Ninetales into attacks directly if possible and instead aim to bring it in on a slow Volt Switch or U-turn, after a teammate is KOed, or on a well-predicted double switch; similarly, aim to bring Alolan Ninetales in against Pokemon that it forces out if possible to ensure that Aurora Veil can be set up safely. If you see Volcarona or Mega Charizard X on the opposing team, don't activate Sleep Clause put a different foe to sleep in order to prevent them using Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. If Ninetales carries Encore, use it against Pokemon that are slower than Ninetales after they set up, and don't be afraid to shut down certain defensive Pokemon like Toxapex and Ice Beam Mew if the battle situation requires you to do so. Avoid taking Knock Off if possible to maximize the duration of Aurora Veil on consecutive uses, but don't be afraid to take one hit with Alolan Ninetales if it is necessary. If Alolan Ninetales is about to faint and Aurora Veil isn't active, use the opportunity to set it up and let Alolan Ninetales faint to grab momentum late-game.

Team Options
========

Setup attackers like Gyarados, Bisharp, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Mega Pinsir, Volcarona, and Zygarde all massively appreciate Aurora Veil due to its ability to make setting up easier; Bisharp is also nice for discouraging attempts to clear Aurora Veil with Defog, whereas Volcarona takes advantage of Aurora Veil to circumvent Rock-type moves from Choice Scarf users, which people use are used to revenge kill it after a boost, namely including such as Keldeo's Stone Edge. Slow Volt Switch and U-turn users like Mega Scizor, Jirachi, Landorus-T, Magearna, Assault Vest Magnezone, and Rotom-W are useful for helping get Alolan Ninetales onto the field safely while also making pivoting into teammates after setting up Aurora Veil easier; bulky pivots like Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Toxapex also achieve a similar goal, albeit with a little more prediction being required. Frail nukes like Hoopa-U, Mega Medicham, Kartana, Ash-Greninja, and Mega Mawile appreciate Aurora Veil's ability to give them more breathing room when spamming their absurdly strong attacks, allowing them to deal significantly more damage to the opposing team. Pokemon such as Magnezone, Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard Y that can help Alolan Ninetales deal with Steel-types, (comma) making them make for good teammates; Mega Charizard Y also changes the weather with Drought, allowing it to support Alolan Ninetales by helping to maximize the number of turns of hail it has available to it after switching in. Bulky attackers such as Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tyranitar are helpful for reducing the team's reliance on Aurora Veil while becoming extremely hard to break when the effect is on the field; similarly to Mega Charizard Y, Tyranitar is also capable of ensuring that Alolan Ninetales has hail up every time it comes in by overwriting it. Rapid Spin from the likes of either Starmie or and Excadrill is useful for clearing entry hazards, which otherwise give Alolan Ninetales a massive headache and limit how many times it can set up Aurora Veil; Defog users like Mew, Tapu Fini, Latios, and Mega Scizor also work for this purpose. Entry hazard setters such as Ferrothorn, Greninja, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak make solid partners for their ability to help Alolan Ninetales's teammates break through the opposing team.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A bulkier set with enough Speed investment to outrun Garchomp is an option over the listed set, but generally speaking, the offensive spread is more useful in practice. Hidden Power Ground can be used to 2HKO maximum HP Heatran after Stealth Rock, (comma) as well as 2HKOing Assault Vest Magnezone after one layer of Spikes. Disable is an option to shut down certain attacks and is useful versus Choice item users that go against Alolan Ninetales by forcing them to either switch or use Struggle, but this leaves Alolan Ninetales vulnerable to setup sweepers. Finally, Toxic is an option to alleviate Alolan Ninetales's passiveness and is useful for wearing down bulky Pokemon for teammates, whereas Nasty Plot achieves the same goal by boosting Alolan Ninetales's Special Attack stat sharply, which is useful for reducing its reliance on teammates to break through the opposing team.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Mega Charizard Y**: Mega Charizard Y blocks Aurora Veil attempts to set up Aurora Veil by overwriting hail with Drought, takes very little damage from any of Alolan Ninetales's attacks, (comma) barring the inaccurate Blizzard, which fails to 2HKO it, and returns the favor by dealing heavy damage to Ninetales or one of its teammates with a sun-boosted Fire Blast.

**Steel-types**: Mega Scizor takes very little damage from anything other than Hidden Power Fire and gets close to OHKOing Alolan Ninetales through Aurora Veil with Bullet Punch. Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi all take very little damage from almost all of Alolan Ninetales's attacks and KO it in return with Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or Iron Head, (comma) respectively. Any of these can also use Alolan Ninetales for as setup fodder.

**Entry Hazards**: Alolan Ninetales is both grounded and weak to Stealth Rock, making it easy to wear down between Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. Furthermore, its vulnerability to Sticky Web means that it will lose its potent Speed tier when pitted against teams that carry it.

**Fire-types**: Alolan Marowak and Heatran take very little from Alolan Ninetales's STAB moves, and they both threaten it heavily with STAB moves of their own. Volcarona is slower than Alolan Ninetales, takes very little from any of its attacks, and outpaces it after one boost, meaning that it is not threatened by Encore and concequently uses non-Hypnosis Alolan Ninetales for setup fodder. Mega Charizard X is in the same boat, although it needs to be wary of a potential Blizzard.

**Sand Stream Users**: While they need to be wary of Freeze-Dry and Moonblast, respectively, Hippowdon and Tyranitar are capable of acting as a roadblock to Alolan Ninetales's attempts to use Aurora Veil.
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