Competitive Builds (G6): Greninja

[CrazyElf]

This forum area is pretty much dying, so I'm going to attempt to bring this forum area some attention with a small thread. Title says it all really-give out your best Greninja moveset. Here is mine (I barely use this pokemon in competitive play).

Greninja@Life Orb/Choice Scarf
Protean
EVS-252 Attack 252 Speed 4 HP
Jolly/Adamant
-Power-Up Punch
-Night Slash
-Waterfall
-Aerial Ace/Shadow Sneak/U-Turn

Bold means use that with the other bolded thing, so Choice Scarf with Adamant nature, or use a Life Orb with Jolly nature.

I don't think this thread post could bring attention back to this forum area, but I might as well try .

 

[Marc]

If Greninja could learn Close Combat, I'd use a physical set for it.

Some others that are nice (and I use) are:

Greninja w/ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Nature: Timid (+Speed / - ATK)
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 SP ATK / 4 DEF
Moves:
- Hydro Pump or Surf / Scald / Water Pulse (depending on what you want to do: "+ DMG, - accuracy" / damage / burn / confuse)
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Fire / U-Turn / Grass Knot
- Dark Pulse

Hidden Power Grass if you want to damage Rotom-W while taking minimum damage because of Protean. Grass Knot for other grass types, Hidden Power Fire for annoying steel-types like Ferro and Skarmory, and U-turn for a hit and run.

 

[sodajet]

I use the set Marc described above for my Greninja. I'm not very competitive, so my explanations for certain things might seem pretty obvious.

Greninja w/ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Nature: Hasty (+Speed / - DEF) // Not ideal but w/e
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 SP ATK / 4 HP
Moves:
- Surf // Originally had Hydro Pump but switched out in favor of accuracy. What's the point of the move if it misses 1 out of ever 5 uses
- Ice Beam
- U-Turn // I use Greninja as my entry Pokemon. I don't use spikes or any set-up moves. I go for damage or I just use U-Turn if I'm up against a Thunder, Grass, or Steel Pokemon for the most part
- Dark Pulse // Nice damage, perfect accuracy, and overall a good STAB move (even though every one of Protean Greninja's moves gets STAB)

I think Greninja is my favorite water starter Pokemon because of his extraordinary speed. That strike- first ability really helps take out a lot of Pokemon from the get-go. However, his average defenses mean he can easily be OHKO'ed so you have to tread carefully else you'll end up losing him. Other Pokemon can outspeed him too (Choice Scarfed) and that makes it important to make the right choice between attacking or switching out.

 

[FirstSerpent]

While I was trying to finish the Maison, I encountered an NPC with an amazing Greninja. It had Water Shuriken and was holding a king's rock. It made my Tyrannitar flinch to death.
So I made one of my Greninjas following this example;
Sage (Greninja) @King's rock.
Nature: Jolly.
Ability: Protean.
Moves:
- Water Shuriken. (One 25% chance of flinching, Two 25% chance of flinching, Three...)
- Power up punch.
- Night Slash.
- U-turn.

I Switch in and revenge kill with Power up Punch if possible, and increase attack.
Then I Proceed to hit anything Sage Outspeeds with Water Shuriken.
U-turn to make sure Sage can can switch out safely.
It's effective, but requires a bit of luck to pulls off.

 

[dilawer]

Been there done that. Although, I had used Bounce instead of night slash to confuse people.

 

[FLCL]

Looking over these sets, I noticed no one's mentioned anything of Extrasensory, which is pretty much standard on Greninja now.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Trait: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power Fire / Grass
- Extrasensory
- Surf/Scald/Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

 

[dilawer]

Greninja@Life Orb
Protean
EVS-252 SP.Attack 252 Speed 4 HP
Jolly/Modest
-Scald/Surf/Hydro Pump
-Dark Pulse
-HP Fire/HP Grass
-Shadow Sneak

Shadow Sneak is a must here to beat them Mach Punchers and kick their <censored>.

 

[Artisan]

Greninja@Life Orb
Protean
EVS-252 SP.Attack 252 Speed 4 HP
Jolly/Modest
-Scald/Surf/Hydro Pump
-Dark Pulse
-HP Fire/HP Grass
-Shadow Sneak

Shadow Sneak is a must here to beat them Mach Punchers and kick their a**.

The Nature sorta gets rid of your reason to use SS unless your opponent is at 1 HP and isn't a pure Normal type or Fighting type.

I use @Lios set because it has great coverage with any team you put it on. Maybe even a Focus Sash would work on it so it can hit twice versus hitting once and a boost. Just make sure you can switch out when you need to though and not get hit by Pursuit or staying in and taking priority unless you want a free switch-in.

 

[dilawer]

The Nature sorta gets rid of your reason to use SS unless your opponent is at 1 HP and isn't a pure Normal type or Fighting type.

I use @Lios set because it has great coverage with any team you put it on. Maybe even a Focus Sash would work on it so it can hit twice versus hitting once and a boost. Just make sure you can switch out when you need to though and not get hit by Pursuit or staying in and taking priority unless you want a free switch-in.

Nope, nature can't help you outrun a +1 priority Mach Punch. You need a priority move like SS to get them Mach Punchers.

 

[Kyubey]

I also have Lios's moveset. Its a versatile moveset and you can switch in and out of typings to your own favour.

 

[Artisan]

Nope, nature can't help you outrun a +1 priority Mach Punch. You need a priority move like SS to get them Mach Punchers.

No but you could at least make Greninja Naive, Hasty, Rash, or Mild so you don't get an Attack drop because it has little KO potential. And what speedy Mach Punch users are out there that SS will be effective against?

EDIT: Water Shiruken is a better move.

 

[dilawer]

No but you could at least make Greninja Naive, Hasty, Rash, or Mild so you don't get an Attack drop because it has little KO potential. And what speedy Mach Punch users are out there that SS will be effective against?

EDIT: Water Shiruken is a better move.

Lol, Mach Punch will save you an OHKO. If a Technician Breloom or Conkeldurr Mach Punches the Greninja, it will faint. Now, If you have SS, you can always use it first and transform into Ghost type rendering the Mach Punch Useless. He will either switch out or try something else while you can Extrasensory/Scald for decent damage.

 

[Ashkil]

Here's mine:

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Spikes

I use Greninja more as a support lead. It generally can land multiple rounds of Spikes pretty easily by moving in and out, and by scaring out Pokemon that it easily counters. Many times I get one round of spikes on the first turn by scaring their lead. U-turn is used to scout out and keeps the momentum going. Ice Beam and Hydro Pump are strong moves that can easily OHKO some of the weaker sweepers.

 

[Artisan]

Lol, Mach Punch will save you an OHKO. If a Technician Breloom or Conkeldurr Mach Punches the Greninja, it will faint. Now, If you have SS, you can always use it first and transform into Ghost type rendering the Mach Punch Useless. He will either switch out or try something else while you can Extrasensory/Scald for decent damage.

Moves with the same priority go in order of the speed of the user so unless the MP user is Scarfed or it's a double Mach Punch Breloom and/or Conkeldurr should still go second.

 

[dilawer]

Moves with the same priority go in order of the speed of the user so unless the MP user is Scarfed or it's a double Mach Punch Breloom and/or Conkeldurr should still go second.

Good luck Water Shurikening a Breloom or Conkeldurr. You don't even know what you're talking about.

 

[Blaze-iken]

Mine :
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability : Protean
EVs : 252 Sp. Attack / 252 speed / 6 HP
Nature : Timid (+Speed, - Attack)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Mat Block
I use this Greninja in Triple Battle, turn 1 it use Mat Block to protect Blaziken and Lucario from damage, then they both use Sword Dance

 

[FLCL]

Greninja @Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Sp.A/252 Spe/6 Hp
Naive Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Fire

When ORAS comes around, Greninja is going to get access to a handful of new move tutors, one of them being Gunk Shot, making Greninja one of the biggest threats in OU. Pokemon like Azumarill and Mega Gardevoir aren't even checks anymore...RIP Fairies October 12, 2013 - November 21, 2014.

0 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Gunk Shot vs. 16 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 390-460 (113 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 283-335 (71.8 - 85%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 439-523 (158.4 - 188.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[Ashkil]

Assuming of course that they leave the tutors in the game(unless there's some update I missed)

 

[Hikki]

I like the standard all-out life orb moveset but I am starting to see the appeal in a Focus Sash one. I like the life orb Greninja better because you can last longer with Protean switching to a not very effective move but no guarantees I don't like Focus Sash as much because you could survive a not very effective move and the focus band would essential be useless

 

[Ashkil]

I like the standard all-out life orb moveset but I am starting to see the appeal in a Focus Sash one. I like the life orb Greninja better because you can last longer with Protean switching to a not very effective move but no guarantees I don't like Focus Sash as much because you could survive a not very effective move and the focus band would essential be useless

The problem with that is that Greninja doesn't really have the bulk for much more than a couple of attacks, especially from some of the stronger pokemon. Focus sash has a very specific purpose and does it really well. Plus switching requires a lot more planning, which could screw you over if your opponent is smart.