#658
Greninja
Ninja Pokémon
WaterDark
It creates throwing stars out of compressed water. When it spins them and throws them at high speed, these stars can split metal in two.
Base Stats
HP 72
Attack 95
Defense 67
Sp. Atk 103
Sp. Def 71
Speed 122
Total 530
Type Effectiveness
Immune to
Abilities
Forms
Evolution Chain
Moves
Locations
Details
Category Ninja Pokémon
Height 1.5 m
Weight 40.0 kg
Base Exp 239
Growth Rate Medium Slow
Capture Rate 45
Base Happiness 70
Gender 87.5% ♂ / 12.5% ♀
Habitat —
Egg Groups Water1
Sprites
Front
Back
Front Shiny
Back Shiny
Official Art
Official Art (Shiny)Competitive
Lead
Item
Focus Sash
Ability
Battle Bond
Nature
Timid
EVs
SpA 252
SpD 4
Spe 252
Strategy Overview
- Access to Spikes and Taunt and a Speed tier that allows it to outspeed Arceus formes provide Greninja with a nice niche as a dedicated lead in the Ubers tier.
- Greninja's Water / Dark typing allows it to also be a great anti-lead against other common dedicated leads such as Cloyster and Deoxys-S, as it naturally resists Cloyster's attacks, outspeeds it, and can use Taunt against it, and it is able to 2HKO and force predictions against Deoxys-S. Furthermore, unlike Cloyster, Necrozma-DM is unable to lead against it.
- Greninja does, however, struggle to really dish out any damage prior to activating Battle Bond, which can make it difficult to effectively provide offensive pressure, as it needs to claim a KO in order to do so. This low damage output results in it being completely shut down by the tier's two Magic Bounce users in Mega Diancie and Mega Sableye, which are able to bounce back entry hazards and use Taunt against it while failing to be 2HKOed by any of its attacks.
- Its subpar bulk also means that it can often struggle to get many entry hazards up against setup sweepers, as it is forced to use Taunt on them to prevent them from setting up but is also very often brought down to its Focus Sash even without boosts. If these setup sweepers have access to a priority move, Greninja can completely fail to get up any entry hazards.
Most Used Moves
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc