Kartana
Drawn Sword Pokémon
This Ultra Beast came from the Ultra Wormhole. It seems not to attack enemies on its own, but its sharp body is a dangerous weapon in itself.
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Type Effectiveness
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Evolution Chain
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Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
An amazing Attack stat, decent Speed, and Steel-type STAB make Kartana a fearsome Pokemon in the Balanced Hackmons metagame. Kartana's Sunsteel Strike along with Steelworker heavily limits possible switch-ins, hitting even Pokemon that resist it hard such as Registeel, Aegislash, and Primal Kyogre. It notably 2HKOes Zygarde-C and Giratina, two of the metagame's premier walls, while also bypassing Fur Coat. In addition, Sunsteel Strike OHKOes slower foes weak to it such as Xerneas, Mega Audino, and Shedinja. STAB on Sunsteel Strike as well as a decent stat spread lets Kartana also function as a Belly Drum sweeper if required due to Sunsteel Strike ignoring Fur Coat and Unaware. Its Grass typing offensively complements its Steel typing by letting it hit Water-types such as Mega Gyarados and Primal Kyogre super effectively. In addition, it makes Kartana immune to Spore, which, combined with its ability to tank common utility moves such as Core Enforcer, Revelation Dance, and Spectral Thief, grants it some degree of defensive utility. Defensively, its Steel typing as well as a decent Defense stat aids it in sweeping and wallbreaking by allowing it to take a variety of priority moves better, such as Mega Diancie's and Kyurem-B's Extreme Speed. Kartana's Speed tier also ensures it outspeeds almost every defensive Pokemon in the metagame, heavily enhancing its matchup against balance and stall teams.
Unfortunately, its Speed tier still leaves it outsped by common offensive Pokemon such as Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Diancie, and Mega Gengar. In addition, while switch-ins are rare, Kartana finds it difficult to OHKO defensive Pokemon that aren't weak to its attacks, such as Zygarde-C, Aegislash, and Giratina. Due to this, Kartana often relies on slow pivoting to be brought into targets that it can force out so it can wallbreak, as most of the targets it beats have ways to force it out if Kartana tries to switch in directly. Kartana also suffers from being one-dimensional, with its sets being largely limited to Belly Drum and Steelworker. Also, Kartana's abysmal special bulk, moderate physical bulk, and low Speed compared to other offensive Pokemon mean it will have difficulty against offensive teams.
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Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc