#649
Genesect
Paleozoic Pokémon
BugSteel
Over 300 million years ago, it was feared as the strongest of hunters. It has been modified by Team Plasma.
Base Stats
HP 71
Attack 120
Defense 95
Sp. Atk 120
Sp. Def 95
Speed 99
Total 600
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Evolution Chain
Moves
Details
Category Paleozoic Pokémon
Height 1.5 m
Weight 82.5 kg
Base Exp 270
Growth Rate Slow
Capture Rate 3
Base Happiness 0
Gender Genderless
Habitat —
Egg Groups No Eggs
Mythical Pokémon
Sprites
Front
Back
Front Shiny
Back Shiny
Official Art
Official Art (Shiny)Competitive
Choice Band
Item
Choice Band
Nature
Hasty
EVs
Atk 252
SpD 4
Spe 252
Strategy Overview
- Genesect, like many Steel-types, struggles to justify its place on many teams due to an extreme level of competition it faces with better Steel-types. Its nearly unparalleled movepool and ability to run multiple offensive sets are not sufficient to make Genesect worth using due to its unreliability as a check to Xerneas and inconsistent damage output that is reliant on Download.
- Genesect requires its team to have extra security against Xerneas as well as other common threats like Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh that can pivot into Genesect. Burdening the team to deal with these threats further diminishes Genesect's viability as an offensive Pokemon and decreases the number of sets that Genesect can opt to use to benefit its teammates in return.
- As a pivot, Genesect can force switches quite well and thus function as an offensive pivot, but it lacks much damage output against defensive teams without a beneficial Download boost and a boosting item despite the multiple coverage moves it can run, while running dedicated sets that aim to wallbreak will make it helpless against offensive teams due to its middling Speed and bulk.
- Many Pokemon in Ubers can pose immediate danger to Genesect once it makes a single misprediction. All of these negatives combine to invalidate all of Genesect's sets other than Choice Band, which it can run in an attempt to improve its role as a pivot by strengthening U-turn to punish switches harder, justify Extreme Speed to maintain its usefulness against offensive teams, and OHKO Xerneas in a one-on-one situation after Stealth Rock damage without relying on Download.
- Even a pivoting set using Choice Band faces competition with other pivots like Mega Scizor and Magearna. Mega Scizor has a much better chance to take on Geomancy Xerneas and its access to recovery enables it to switch into support Arceus formes as well, while Magearna, though it may suffer from its inability to pivot against Ground-types, is one of the best checks to Xerneas and checks other dangerous Pokemon like Yveltal.
Most Used Moves
Most Used Items
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc