Although I was hesitant to write this post, I decided I would do it anyway. With Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon out for a few weeks now, I thought I’d take the time to come up with what the best team for those games would be. So, let’s start.
Although last game I said the best starter was Popplio, this time around it is Litten. The main enemy of this game is Necrozma. Whatever forms he takes, he will always be Psychic type, and Incineroar, Litten’s final evolution, is a Fire/Dark type. Dark not only is immune to Psychic, but it does super effective damage to it as well. Ghosts type do the same, although they take regular damage from Psychic types. One of Necrozma’s form has it become a Psychic/Steel in Ultra Sun or Psychic/Ghost in Ultra Moon. Although Steel does not resist Ghost and it is doubly effective against Ghost, Incineroar’s Fire/Dark gives it two strategies against the Steel/Psychic, as Steel doesn’t resist Dark either. Plus, Dark resists Ghost and Fire resists Steel, whereas Decidueye would be weak to the Psychic/Ghost one. Although you could argue that you could just get any other Dark type throughout the game (and with Houndoom available in Ultra Sun, it’d make sense not to get this Pokemon), your starter Pokemon is usually one of your strongest Pokemon in your party. It’s your first Pokemon, you get it at level 5, and the final evolutions have good base stats. Incineroar has an impressive 530 base stat total, being pretty balanced in its stat, with its Attack being its best stat at 115, and its Speed being the lowest, at 60. Plus, Hala at the Elite Four has been replaced with Molayne, a Steel type user. Going from a Fighting Elite Four to a Steel type gives Incineroar much more use at the Elite Four than in Sun and Moon, where it was only mainly useful for Acerola, good for some of Kahili’s Pokemon, and bad against Hala and Olivia. Although Olivia is still present at the Elite Four, this is just one Pokemon out of six.
The next Pokemon will be Zubat. Hala will be tough without a Pokemon good against Fighting, and Zubat is good because it doubly resists Fighting moves and it has access to Wing Attack at level 13. It could also be helpful against Lana’s trial, who has an Araquanid instead of a Wishiwashi. Araquanid is Bug/Water and Bug is weak to Flying. Plus, Zubat doubly resists Bug. It’s also useful for Mallow’s trial, who has a Lurantis. Zubat also doubly resists Grass, and Lurantis is a Grass type. Finally, it’ll be useful against the Totem Kommo-o and Mina’s Ribombee, as Kommo-o is Dragon/Fighting and Ribombee is Bug/Fairy. Fairy is weak to Poison and resists it.
The third Pokemon will be Mareep. It’ll help out in Lana’s trial, and more importantly, it will be your main attacker against Kahili. Kahili’s Mandibuzz does have Bone Rush, but it’s not that powerful, isn’t STAB, and can miss. Ampharos has a high Defense and Special Attack, although it’s pretty slow. If you take too much damage during your battle with Kahili, make sure to use Hyper Potions. Many of her Pokemon have contact moves, and with any luck, you might paralyze them with your Static ability. This may give you a free turn to heal, or get an extra hit in. I know we should maximize our type effective by picking a dual-type Electric, but I’ll touch on that later.
The fourth Pokemon will be Barboach. Although it is doubly weak to Grass, it’ll be useful for Kiawe’s trial and Sophocles’s trial. Although the Totem for Kiawe’s trial is an Alolan Marowak, it calls in Salazzle, who are doubly weak to Ground. For Sophocles, the Totem is Togedemaru, which is also doubly weak to Ground. It’ll also be useful for Olivia.
The fifth Pokemon will be Pineco. It evolves into Forretress, a Bug/Steel type, at level 31. Although this makes it doubly weak to Fire, it’s arguably your best option for Mimikyu. Its Steel typing gives it resistance to Fairy moves, and it has a pretty high Defense. Although it does not have the highest Defense of all Steel types (Bastiodon and Probopass have higher ones), it’s the highest that is not weak to Water. Why does this Pokemon not being weak to Water matter? It might be precautionary, but one of the partners Mimikyu calls in is Jellicent, a Water/Ghost type. If you’re worried that Forretress won’t do good against the Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar that you have to face before fighting Mimikyu, remember you still have your Incineroar (hopefully you do at this point, if not, I highly recommend doing that before taking on this trial). Also, Forretress learns Payback at level 32, which is a Dark type move with 50 base power that doubles in power if you’re hit first. Although it isn’t STAB, it can still do some damage. To take down Mimikyu, Forretress learns Mirror Shot once it has evolved. Although its not the most accurate move, it’s somewhat powerful and can lower the opponent’s accuracy.
The final Pokemon will be Mimikyu. The champion is Hau, and with your team, you only do well against half of them. Mimikyu will cover the other three. Being a Ghost, it cannot take STAB damage from Tauros. Being a Fairy means it is immune to Noivern’s Dragon typing and good against it. Something similar goes for Crabominable, except it is immune to its Fighting type but good against it with its Fairy typing. Plus, its Disguise ability gives it a free hit with most Pokemon, and it will do much better against Totem Kommo-o than Crobat, since it is immune to both Fighting and Dragon.
Now, like last time, this team is not perfect. It is my personal opinion on which combination of available Pokemon is best. The only type you do not have super effective STAB moves against is Normal, but Forretress resists it and Mimikyu is immune to it. Plus, Normal isn’t super effective against anything, so this is a minor flaw. Forretress is doubly weak to Fire, but Whiscash is good for that, and Whiscash is doubly to Grass, but Incineroar, Forretress and Crobat, take care of that (Forretress and Crobat both doubly resist Grass while having STAB moves against them). Incineroar and Crobat are weak to Rock and Incineroar and Ampharos are weak to Ground, but Whiscash can take of both of those typings, and Forretress can help out with the Rock types.
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