Mantine
Kite Pokémon
Postcards and posters featuring Mantine leaping elegantly above the waves are popular souvenirs of Alola.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Evolution Chain
Moves
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
Water
Mantine's amazing Special Defense along with its access to reliable recovery in the form of Roost makes it a specially defensive wall that is extremely easy to fit on Water teams. It gets access to other utility moves such as Defog and Toxic while also having one of the most spammable moves in the game, Scald, as a STAB move. Its typing provides a key neutrality to Grass-type moves and an immunity to Ground-type moves, something Water teams really appreciate due to their general lack of Pokemon that resist Ground-type moves. However, Mantine suffers from a 4x weakness to Electric-type moves and is very passive, often resulting in a huge loss of momentum whenever it comes in. It faces competition from Empoleon as a Defog user, as the latter can compress two roles on one teamslot due to its access to Stealth Rock. Furthermore, being weak to Stealth Rock makes it hard for Mantine to actually switch in repeatedly to use Defog. Finally, Mantine has a low Defense stat, forcing it to rely on teammates to take on physical wallbreakers.
Flying
Mantine is a great special wall on balance and stall Flying teams thanks to its high Special Defense stat and its excellent Water typing allowing it to take Ice-type moves neutrally, taking pressure off Pokemon such as Celesteela that would otherwise need to deal with them. Its ability Water Absorb also makes it a great counter to heavy-hitting Water-type Pokemon such as Kingdra and Keldeo. Its utility moves in Roost and Defog allow it to take pressure off teammates such as Zapdos by absorbing neutral hits for them and allowing Zapdos to run Substitute and Toxic rather than Defog. Furthermore, the option to use Toxic or Haze allows Mantine to cripple opposing Pokemon, limiting their switches, and prevent setup Pokemon such as Volcarona from beating the team. Access to a spammable move in Scald as well makes Mantine very dangerous to even physical Pokemon trying to take advantage of its lack of physical bulk such as Scizor and Mega Gallade, as it has a chance to burn and cripple them. However, Mantine's 4x weakness to Electric-type moves is detrimental to Flying-type teams, as it does not help in the matchup against Electric, and Pokemon such as Keldeo can act as lures with Hidden Power Electric. Mantine's mediocre Defense stat also means it is forced out by strong physical attackers such as Mega Lopunny, leaving it pressured while Defogging. Mantine is extremely passive and offers little to the team in terms of offense, so it is dead weight on more balanced and offensive teams outside of Scald.
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc