Pok�mon of the Week

Minun, The Cheering Pok�mon. It cheers on friends. If its friends are losing, its body lets off more and more sparks.Exposure to electricity from MINUN and PLUSLE promotes blood circulation and relaxes muscles. Its dislike of water makes it take shelter under the eaves of houses in rain. It uses pom-poms made of sparks for cheering.

Minun is the second half of the mighty Plusle and Minun core. Well, core if you're running doubles. If you run Plusle and Minun on the same team in singles you're crazy. Actually if you run them in doubles you're also crazy, as the advanced generation's mice are adorable, but also horrible. Unlike Plusle, Minun has slightly higher defenses. So much higher that with max HP EVs you may actually survive an attack or two. Because Plusle wastes some of its energy with higher (physical) attack Minun actually makes better use of its stats. Though both mice are useless Minun is slightly less useless and far better at their only somewhat viable use ever... Baton Passing Nasty Plots."

Minus: If its partner in a multi-battle has Minus or Plus as its ability, this Pokemon's Special Attack increases 50%. Obviously useless in singles but in doubles it can make Minun hit reasonably hard. Something people often overlook is that you don't need to be partnered with a Pokemon with Plus to get a boost. Two Pokemon with Minus boost each other! This is all nice and well until you realize that Minun is horrible in Doubles.

- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Substitute / Sing
- Baton Pass
Item Attached: Focus Sash
Ability: Minus
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Look familiar? Yeah, this is the exact same set Plusle ran with more HP EVs. Unlike with Plusle you should not even consider attempting a sweep, instead use your slightly better defenses to Baton Pass out as soon as possible. Thunderbolt is basically only for if you're up against a Haze Wartortle or Tentacool. Hidden Power Ice will usually 2HKO defensive Altaria after Nasty Plot but it isn't good for much else. Remember with defensive EVs Plusle isn't going to be hitting much of anything hard. If you're concerned about Dragon Tail or Clear Smog, Substitute can block those moves from ruining your attempts at Baton Passing. Sing is the last option to potentially put a counter to sleep. 55% Accuracy is bad though. Despite more HP EVs Focus Sash is still the better item. HP EVs guarantee stuff like Lickilicki Dragon Tails will not break your Substitutes but Focus Sash may be required for heavier hitters like... anything stronger than Farfetch'd.

Choice Specs / Choice Scarf, Rain Dance / Thunder, Volt Switch, Signal Beam, Air Balloon, Electro Ball, and Farfetch'd.
Minun almost has the stats and movepool to run a Choice Specs or Choice Scarf set. The problem is that there are a lot of other Electric types that do the same thing, but have higher speed and offenses. In fact besides Pachirisu Minun is probably the worst offensive electric type.
Minun can sort of use Rain Dance / Thunder but its too slow, and is largely outclassed by other Electric types at that. 75 base Special Attack is terrible.
Volt Switch is a lot of fun to scout out your counters and deal some damage to them. It doesn't hit very hard and Minun is worse at Volt Switch spam than more bulky or offensive electrics like... literally all of them. Beisdes maybe Plusle.
Signal Beam eradicates Exeggutor but doesn't really hit anything else. Actually it doesn't even OHKO Exeggutor.
Air Balloon turns Minun's weakness into an immunity. With HP investment Minun may actually survive a hit or two. Still Focus Sash guarantees that hit is survived, and is thus more reliable.
Electro Ball gets a mention just to say you should never use it. If you use Thunder Wave then Electro Ball you will have 150 base power against most things but if you're going to spend two turns for one attack why not Nasty Plot then Thunderbolt and hit for 190 base power?
Another option is to just not use Minun. Have you tried Farfetch'd? I've heard it's quite effective while holding a Stick.

Ironically enough, very little. Minus is an ability not restricted to just Minun anymore. Klingklang, Ampharos, and Manetric all can make use of it and they all are better offensively than Minun. Remember Minus does not have to be paired with Plus. Two Minus Pokemon boost themselves so you can run Minun alongside anything with the Plus or Minus abilities. If you absolutely want to try the "Plusle + Minun" thing maybe run Tailwind and Rain support and try to pound away with Life Orb Thunders. Plusle + Minun get a bunch of doubles support moves like Helping Hand and Discharge. Keep in mind that there Pokemon like Zapdos and Thundurus that hit about as hard as a Plus or Minus boosted rat and for the most part those Pokemon are superior.

Minun is offensively almost a non-entity. Its +2 Thunderbolts will do solid damage to Water types but that at worst will make your opponent switch to something that has a type advantage over you. What Minun is actually useful for is Baton Passing to better sweepers. Partner Pokemon like Kadabra, Glaceon, Trick Room Beheeyem, Haunter, Gorebyss, Rotom and any number of other Special Attackers are great to take +2 Nasty Plots. Pokemon with Suction Cups, Magic Bounce and Soundproof are great partners as they are not bothered by something using Roar. Soundproof Pokemon are also immune to annoying Perish Songs that could make Plusle's Baton Pass useless.

The act of attacking and fainting Minun is not difficult. Its defenses are below average and offenses are terrible. The big issue is stopping Minun before it Baton Passes. Cinccino can easily wipe Minun out with Skill Link Tail Slap, blowing it apart even through its Focus Sash. Pokemon with Clear Smog or Dragon Tail can wipe out the Nasty Plot boosts, but neither will get past Substitutes and many of the Pokemon that learn it can not break Minun's HP invested Subs. Haze works as does Perish Song. Altaria sponges +2 Thunderbolts easily and can get rid of Minun either with Dragon Pulse or Perish Song. Roar gets rid of whatever Minun Baton Passes to as long as they aren't "soundproof". Don't be worried about Minun though. It isn't a threat that people normally use. Unless it manages to Baton Pass to the PERFECT thing your team is weak to you will probably have no problem bringing the little mouse down. Be aware that it is a bit tougher than Plusle in exchange for a lot of offensive power.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Route 110 .

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Colosseum/XD:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Trophy Garden.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Route 1, Route 2, Route 3, Route 4, Route 5, Route 7, Route 8, Route 11, Route 14, Route 15, Route 16, Route 17, Route 18, Route 29, Route 33, Route 37, Route 36, Route 37, Route 38, Route 39, Route 46, Route 48, National Park .

Black/White:
Route 6 (White)
Trade from other games (Black)

Black 2/White 2:
Route 6 (White 2)
Trade from other games (Black 2)