Community POTW #93

[Kraleck]

Ninjask-Countering Options
-Gyro Ball hits Ninjask like a truck, regardless of Speed Boost.
-Punishment is a great Move to use against Ninjask or a B.Pass recipient. Boosted enemy Stats boost the power of your Punishment.
-Roar/Whirlwind works wonders on any B.Pass Strategy, but beware of Soundproof for Roar and Suction Cups with either.
-Haze and Clear Smog are great for eliminating B.Pass-work, but Pranksters are preferred for Haze.
-Weavile has access to Base 120 Attack, Fake Out, and STAB Ice Shard, allowing it to scare off Ninjask early on.
-Trick Room makes Ninjask the slowest Pokemon ever, so consider a user that isn't weak to Bug such as Gallade, Klinklang, or members of the Porygon-, Misdreavus-, Shuppet-, Duskull-, Bronzor-, Yamask-, Frillish-, or Litwick-Evolutionary Lines.

[2406Blackbird]

Just try to de-mask this Ninja!

[jesusfreak94]

Let's please keep in mind that the only set Ninjask should ever be running, and I do mean the only set, is the Baton Pass set. Since Combusken doesn't have Speed Boost + Baton Pass yet, Ninjask is still the premier speed passer, and it's usually not hard to get 3 or 4 boosts off to something else if you play it right. Besides, offensive sets are terrible. You don't have a way to hit Steels besides Dig, and your other good moves are X-Scissor, U-turn, and Night Slash, with Aerial Ace being your only option for a Flying STAB. Not to mention that every tier but NU has a physical Bug who does far better, and even in NU there's not much of a reason to use a paper-thin, average strength Bug over the plentiful selection of other physical attackers. Even if you want U-turn, you'd be better off running CB Eelektross or Cinccino or something.

[Ilan]

Let's please keep in mind that the only set Ninjask should ever be running, and I do mean the only set, is the Baton Pass set. Since Combusken doesn't have Speed Boost + Baton Pass yet, Ninjask is still the premier speed passer, and it's usually not hard to get 3 or 4 boosts off to something else if you play it right. Besides, offensive sets are terrible. You don't have a way to hit Steels besides Dig, and your other good moves are X-Scissor, U-turn, and Night Slash, with Aerial Ace being your only option for a Flying STAB. Not to mention that every tier but NU has a physical Bug who does far better, and even in NU there's not much of a reason to use a paper-thin, average strength Bug over the plentiful selection of other physical attackers. Even if you want U-turn, you'd be better off running CB Eelektross or Cinccino or something.

But it is still viable to use a set with X-sccissors to beat celebi (which can use perish song) and focus sash alakazam not to say also pranksters like whimsicott that you can hit for a nice damage when they try to taunt.

But straight offense I agree with you it isn't that good even with choice band.

An interesting calc:
252 +2 Atk Ninjask (+Atk) X-Scissor vs 252 HP/252 Def Ferrothorn: 41.19% - 48.86% (3 hits to KO)

It can beat a weakened ferrothorn after a swords dance.

[jesusfreak94]

Yeah, you'll want to keep X-Scissor anyways to keep from being Taunt bait, and occasionally you'll get to check a random Celebi or Alakazam. But the focus of Ninjask should be support.

[Soperman]

Jeez, what a waste of a POTW...
Ninjask has one usable set, with a SD set to go for the surprise factor potentially (not that it would be very efficient). It's sole purpose in life is to send Attack and Speed boosts to random pokemon on your team. I mean, with those stats, that's what he was made for.
Honestly, nothing left to say that hasn't already been said.

[sbktdreed]

Stealth
Ability: Infiltrator
Item: Muscle Band/Life Orb/Choice Band/Choice Scarf/Scope Lens
Adamant w/ 208 Attack, 84 HP, 218 Speed
Bug Bite/X-Scissor/U-turn
Aerial Ace
Dig
Night Slash/Faint Attack/Swords Dance

Partners
Reflect/Light Screen-users
Pranksters like Whimsicott
Fast Guard-users
Earthquake/Buldoze-users if Dig is used.

Countering
High Defense and Attack/Sp Attack pokemon with Fire/Electric/Ice/Flying/Rock-type moves like Relicanth, Golem, Kabutops, Sudowoodo, Aggron, Vanilluxe, Cloyster, Lapras, Rhyperior, Gigalith, Carracosta, Torkoal, Heat/Frost/Fan Rotom, Magnezone, Walrein, Glaceon, Skarmory, Gliscor, Pelipper, Togekiss, Rough Skin Garchomp/Druddigon, Ferrothorn, and Intimidate Arcanine/Tauros/Mawile/Stoutland.
Ice Shard-users like Donphan (egg move).
Avalanche-users like Swampert, Mamoswine, and Beartic.
Flame Body-users like Magcargo or Chandelure.
Static-users like Stunfisk, Ampharos, or Electrode.
Trick Room-users.
No Guard Machamp/Golurk with Rock Tomb, Stone Edge, or Rock Slide.

[Jacobthepokemonfreak]

please be advised: wear earplugs when using this pokemon

[PokeMaster366]

Doubles usefulness level: Low. Yanmega typically outshines him because he isn't phased by Intimidate, has a more versatile and effective movepool, and is less likely to be pwned by Priority. Baton Pass is nice for Ninjask, but thanks to TR, Tailwind, and generally bulky Pokemon in the doubles field, it's not a very good idea.

[firerank9]

So, the bug of speed is up. The big downside with this pokemon is it's a bug flying type, a typing that has been done into the ground. Which means that almost everyone knows it weakness, which I will recap. 2X Damage to Fire/Electric/Ice/and flying, with 4X Damage to Rock type attacks.

[2406Blackbird]

If you need a NINJa, Just -ASK

[philzone]

After pondering for a while i finally found a pokemon that is a great partner for ninjask.

XATU
Magic bounce is the biggy here. it reflects back rocks, taunt, spikes and other entry hazards and even stops phasers (tried and tested on heatran) . also the boostes can then be abused by stored power variants of xatu (which is what i use). a 6+ speed is good, but any boost is fine, especially for stored power.

[jesusfreak94]

Espeon is actually the preferred partner here. Not only does it still have Magic Bounce, but it also has Baton Pass as well for continuing the chain. Espeon is almost a must on BP teams for those reasons alone. It also has Stored Power, so once it gets a few speed and SpA boosts, it can bowl over teams with such a powerful Psychic STAB. Let's also not forget that Baton Pass protects a user from Pursuit, which Espeon loves.

[philzone]

.

Espeon is actually the preferred partner here. Not only does it still have Magic Bounce, but it also has Baton Pass as well for continuing the chain. Espeon is almost a must on BP teams for those reasons alone. It also has Stored Power, so once it gets a few speed and SpA boosts, it can bowl over teams with such a powerful Psychic STAB. Let's also not forget that Baton Pass protects a user from Pursuit, which Espeon loves.

I still prefer Xatu, but i see your point.
EDIT: oh, and xatu can hold its own against scizor and ferrothorn, which espeon can't do. thank goodness it has heat wave

[jesusfreak94]

That actually depends on a lot of factors. If a 4 SpA Leftovers Timid Espeon, the standard for Baton Pass, gets just one SpA boost, CB Scizor is easily OHKOd and standard Ferrothorn is 2HKOd (OHKOd 25% of the time after SR) by HP Fire. Even if you don't have a Sub up, both CB Scizor and standard Ferrothorn fail to OHKO Espeon, so she still comes out on top. Even without boosts, Espeon's HP Fire has about 92% as much power as Xatu's Heat Wave.

Of course, there's still almost no reason to use Xatu over Espeon if you want a focus on Baton Pass, since most of Xatu's advantages are eclipsed by the fact that Espeon has Baton Pass and Xatu does not. Of course, I'd usually choose Xatu over Espeon as a Magic Bounce user, but Espeon definitely has the edge as a partner for Ninjask.

[Kraleck]

Did not see Ninjask getting a PotW discussion this short...should've, but didn't. Take away the Speed advantage and it's just another generic Bug Type. Realizing the creator of the Pokemon phenomenon was an avid bug collector, it's no wonder why we're...eh-heh, swarmed...by so many generic ones...

[Ilan]

Did not see Ninjask getting a PotW discussion this short...should've, but didn't. Take away the Speed advantage and it's just another generic Bug Type. Realizing the creator of the Pokemon phenomenon was an avid bug collector, it's no wonder why we're...eh-heh, swarmed...by so many generic ones...

Ninjask have.. one set what's there to discuss? the only difference is with X-scissors or without X-scissors.. there is nothing left to really talk about.. most pokemons like BP from him too...

[Kraleck]

Ninjask have.. one set what's there to discuss? the only difference is with X-scissors or without X-scissors.. there is nothing left to really talk about.. most pokemons like BP from him too...

All too true. It's not bulky enough for lengthy combat like Armaldo, Volcarona, or Escavalier, nor does it have the raw punch that Heracross, Pinsir, or Accelgor have. Speed is all one can really use Ninjask for, especially with the Baton Pass option. A pity, but it does its limited combat and support options well enough.