Best Competitive Builds for Meowscarade in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

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Meowscarade and the other starter evolutions are very competitively powerful in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Her signature move, Flower Trick, will always result in a critical hit. It also doesn’t check for accuracy or evasion, so it’s impossible to miss unless the target takes cover. The Pokemon is fast, strong, and has many moves that can be used to help its ally Pokemon. These are the best competitive sets for Meowscarade in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

The best competitive moves for Meowscarade in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Meowscarade is exceptionally fast and outspeeds almost all Pokémon in the VGC format. His hidden ability, Protean, changes Meowscarade’s type to whatever attack move he uses. This can give Meowscarade STAB, or Attack Bonus of the same type on their moves, giving them 50% more damage. Of course, its normal ability is Overgrow and it increases the power of Grass Type moves by 50% on top of its normal Grass STAB. These are all the offensive and support moves that can be used on a competitive team:

offensive moves

• flower trick – Because this move always crits, it will ignore any attack debuffs Meowscarade has, as well as any defense buffs the target has.
• Fast attack – Any priority move can be useful to remove low HP Pokemon or to avoid getting hit by Sucker Punch. With Protean, this also gives Meowscaride an immunity to Ghost’s moves.
• Your turn – Dealing damage and switching into a Pokemon can be valuable for switching into something that resists the incoming attack or something with Intimidate. This can also deal quadruple damage to other opposing Meowscarades.
• rough play – Fairy coverage is valuable and threatens Fighting-type Pokemon that counter Meowscarade.
• Lower – Removing items from Pokemon such as Choice Scarf or Sitrus Berry can severely remove the threat level of an opposing Pokemon.
• Low kick – Although the damage depends on how much the target weighs, this is a great move to deal with Steel-type Pokémon.
• Acrobatics – Flying Type’s coverage can be very strong as long as Meowscarade’s item is depleted.
• Dirty game – This move can be used against Pokémon that have increased their Attack to use against them.
• thunder strike – Being able to hit Flying-type Pokemon that normally threaten Meowscarade can be important. With Protean, his flying moves also do less damage.
• Tera Burst – Having coverage of any type is good on any Pokémon focused on attacking.
• Sucker Punch – This is arguably the best Dark-type move that Meowscarade can learn alongside Knock Off.

Related: Best Pokemon Terastallize Forms in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

support moves

• Trick – With Meowscarade’s high speed, they easily trade items with their allies or opponents. Select items or a flame orb are prime candidates for trade.
• grassy terrain – Setting up Grassy Terrain quickly can reduce the effectiveness of opposing Pokémon with Expanding Force on Psychic Terrain.
• Charm – Lowering a Pokémon’s Attack can ensure that Meowscarade and its allied Pokémon survive longer.
• fake tears – When paired with a special attack friendly Pokémon, this can greatly increase the amount of damage it deals to a target.
• Protect – Protect is useful on almost all Pokémon in Double Battles and can waste the opponent’s entire turn if it focuses on a Pokémon that uses it.
• low sweep – The damage isn’t terrible, but the speed control of this move is more valuable.
• break brick – The damage isn’t bad, but the ability to break Reflect and Light Screens makes it useful.
• Taunt – A quick Taunt user can make the opponent unable to set up Swords Dance or even Protect.
• Skill Exchange – Removing an opponent Pokémon’s ability or a friendly Pokémon’s ability can lead to some clever strategies.
• Helping Hand – Increasing the power of any allied Pokémon’s moves can ensure a KO.
• pollen puff – Even though Meowscarade is not a special attacker, this move can damage enemies or heal allies, making it much more useful.
• trick room – This can be a sneaky counter to Tailwind teams and offers an alternative way to outplay opponents.
• ally change – Switching places with allied Pokémon can keep them or Meowscarade alive in difficult situations.
• leech seed – This move, along with Protect can usually keep Meowscarade or a passive HP switched on an ally.

Better Distribution and EV Builds for Meowscarade in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

When trying to figure out how to train Pokemon EVs, it’s important to figure out what your role is on the team. Meowscarade is a very fast physical attacker and can deal a lot of damage with the right setup. Focus Sash can be used to ensure it survives any hit and pairs nicely with Overgrow. Alternatively, Life Orb and Protean work well together to guarantee extra damage on anything it hits. Here are some example sets:

protein attacker

• Article – Orb of life/raid of choice
• Nature – Cheerful/Adamant
• electric vehicles – 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Special Defense
• Tera Type – Steel/Fire
• Skill – Protein
• move
  • flower trick
  • Protect / U-turn /coverage movement
  • Sucker Punch/Lower
  • Fast Attack/Rough Play/Tera Burst

There are many benefits to Protean, but the move only changes Meowscarade’s Type once each time it is switched into battle. Dark attacks give him immunity to psychic moves, while Normal does the same for Ghost. Having so much coverage makes it a threat to multiple Pokemon, and U-Turn can give it a way out of the fight to replace its Typing. Sucker Punch requires a bit of extra work with race or mirror grass, but it’s one of the best moves in the game.

Related: What does Hyper Training do for you in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet?

overgrowth attacker

• Article – Focus Strip
• Nature – Cheerful/Adamant
• evs – 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Special Defense
• Tera Type – Grass/Fire
• Skill – grow too much
• move
  • flower trick
  • Sucker Punch/Lower
  • Play rough/quick attack/U turn
  • Protection/Tera Blast/Coverage Movement

The idea behind this build is to get Meowscarade down to 1 HP with his Focus Sash to activate Overgrow. This will cause Flower Trick to deal 50% more damage and can be further boosted by Terastalizing with a Grass Tera Type. With a Fire Tera Type, this gives Meowscarade the ability to hit Steel Types that she normally couldn’t before.

Cheat Room/Support

• Article – Focus Sash/Sitrus Berry
• Nature – Daring/Naughty
• electric vehicles – 252 Special Defense, 252 HP, 4 Attack
• Tera Type – Grass/Dark
• Skill – Overgrowth/Protein
• move
  • trick room
  • ally change
  • Helping hand/Puff of pollen/Protection
  • Flower Trick/Sucker Stroke

This set goes to great lengths to ensure that the Trick Room is set up. While Trick Room is active, having only priority moves will ensure that Meowscarade can still help out its allied Pokemon. Ally Switch, Helping Hand, and Sucker Punch have higher priority, causing them to move first regardless of reverse speed order. Flower Trick can be used on Overgrow, so Meowscarade can also deal damage.

For more Competitive Sets, check out Best Competitive Builds for Armarouge in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and for more information on helpful items, check out All Items Held and What They Do in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in MyFullGames.